#That's like if i talked about Mao's wife and then said all women were just as evil

[turmpygogosqweze]

"Men kill themselves often because of societal expectations and lack of communication" men have never communicated - in fact, in today's society communcation and sensitivity is more accepted than in any other era of history. I don't believe this is the cause, don't get me wrong, but it is necessarily a fact. What causes the depression of men is three or four factors - One, they are discriminated against (specifically white men) for jobs and roles they are as or more qualified for than their competitors - two, the economy is garbage; anyone would be sad if they couldnt make any money or improve. three, women are not good anymore. Women are most often hoes, most often careless, most often disrespectful and disgraceful. They also have a very high tendency to attempt to get with the highest status men as possible, rendering many average-looking men unable to get fit - four, men are stuck in offices and cubicles and apartments far more than they used to be. Back in the day, most people worked active jobs, but nowadays, most of one's day is commonly in an office. Not only that, but community is sorely lacking, and online community doesn't make up for it.

"Most single fathers don't have the luxury of hiring a maid, and what happens if they can't afford one?" What I'd like to happen is that they would be able to send their child to a church-run or charity-run daycare that was offered for free, if they didn't have family or couldn't afford a maid or daycare provider. Better than anything else. And yeah, but when I say "hiring a maid" it can just as well mean daycare. Same principle necessarily. What about when he cannot send his children to daycare, as well? Often a family member.

I understand your grievances, my mother isn't the best of people when it comes to caring for her children's needs before her own desires, though admittedly she wasn't as bad as your father. And I will admit this, there are weak and pathetic men who are morally worthless such as your father, but it does not mean that the vast majority of men are, at the very least, competent at keeping a household. Any man who hasn't had a woman in a serious relationship has had to take care of his own home. But, at the same time, I ask you - what does your father do for work?

holy crap your father is a complete piece of garbage lmao. I will admit, that although I think you are wrong ideologically, I completely understand why you would hate men if your father is like that. I sympathise, but understand that not all men are like that, and understand that the most of men genuinely do try to be worthwhile Human beings, who put effort into their lives.

Yes, india is a piece of garbage country. But we are in the West, where we are more civilised than the cavemen that are known colloquially as "moslems" and "hindus" in the cesspits of Asia. But we are talking in the context of White countries, of European-esque societies. I completely and entirely agree that rape is wrong in these countries, but we do not have that problem in our own locations. They will or will not fix it, and though I would gladly love such a victim (in the Christian sense) I do not see the purpose of you bringing this up anyway. The point I'm making is that we, or at least Western and East Asians are civilised, and we understand that such crimes are criminal and quite heinous. It isn't right to compare the child-sacrificing peoples of South America to the modern, refined, sophisticated peoples of Europe, North America, and East Asia, why are you comparing the abusive slaver peoples of Arabia and her sister nations to Europe and her descendant nations?

Yeah, I totally agree, and it's disgusting. But I don't know why you're blaming some random white country guy who loves his happy family for something an Indian did in India. They have different cultures, different races, different languages, different laws, different communities. The only thing in common is their sex, which men also have in common with the best and most wholesome men in the world. Focus on something that is far more reasonable to suggest, such as culture, or community, or religion, or nation, or people.

I'm not perfectly aware of the structure of these animals, but the point is that you're just saying "because these specific animals that I cherrypicked do it, it's good"

You speak ill of Arabs and then, in the same breath, speak love about the Native Americans, who were all the same as the Arabs are today, you know (quite more savage, actually). Now to suggest that the vikings didn't rape on a mass scale is quite foolish, but we can look at any typical invasion or raid on a place. In Rome, Attilla's Huns raped and pillaged a ton. In Greece, the Persians raped, pillaged, then genocided, and in Armenia, the Turks raped, and cruelly destroyed and genocided milllions of Armenian innocents. It is highly unlikely that if a group of culturally undeveloped unchristian savages invaded somewhere, they wouldn't rape on a mass scale. Now viking society had shieldmaidens as well. These were very limited, though, and most women conformed to the gender role, which actually makes a compelling case for the argument that "limited non-conformation to gender roles is okay for a society" but to say that viking society was more feminist that today's is not correct. 1. women inherited half as much as men did 2. no no-fault divorce 3. women still had male guardians (brother, husband, father) who acted as their controller 4. Women didn't have voting rights at the Thing (assemblies)

Things women created and discovered!

All men

Francium (elemental)

Torpedoe radio guidance/navigation systems

Dishwasher

GPS

Wi-fi

Structure of the Milky Way

Kevlar

The Earth's inner core

Aciclovir - an antiviral drug used for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, chickenpox, and shingles

Azathioprine - an Immunosuppressive drug used in rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and in kidney transplants to prevent rejection

Flossie Wong-Staal was the first scientist to clone HIV and map its genes.

Pyrimethamine was initially developed by Nobel Prize winning scientist Gertrude Elion as a treatment for malaria.

Disposable diapers

Child carriers

Vaccine for whooping cough

The galaxy rotation problem - important to the discovery of dark matter

Radio astronomy - Type I and Type III solar radio bursts

That stars are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium

The new outer arm of the Milky Way - In 2004, astrophysicist and radio astronomer Naomi McClure-Griffiths identified a new spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy

Radiation

Radon (elemental)

Kinetic energy

Heavy elements in cosmic radiation

Beta particles are electrons

Nuclear shell

Astatine (elemental)

Nuclear fission - helped in the creation of nuclear weapons

Rhenium (elemental)

Seaborgium (elemental)

Polonium and radium (elemental)

Scotchgard

Structure of vitamin B12

Carbon Dioxide

Bioorthogonal chemistry - the concept of the bioorthogonal reaction has enabled the study of biomolecules such as glycans, proteins, and lipids.

Central heating

Square-bottomed paper bag

Correction fluid (white-out)

House solar heating

Wrinkle-free fiber

Windshield wipers

Car heater

Airplane mufflers

Underwater telescopes for warships

Written computer program

Written (programming) language

Chocolate chip cookies

Pizza saver

Mint chocolate chip ice cream

DNA structure

Sex chromosomes

Lactic acid cycle

Transporsable elements

Gap genes

Myers - Briggs Type Indicator

[potteresque-ire]

Can you talk more about the usage of the word "wife" to talk about men in the BL context? I've noticed it in BJYX (particularly with GG), in the (English translations) of MDZS, and then it came up in your recent posts about Danmei-101 (which were super helpful btw) with articles connecting the "little fresh meat" type to fans calling an actor "wife." My initial reaction as a westerner is like "this is very problematic," but I think I'm missing a lot of language/cultural context. Any thoughts?

Hello! First of all, for those who’re interested, here’s a link to the referred posts. Under the cut is arguably the 4th post of the series. As usual, I apologise for the length!

(Topics: seme and uke; more about “leftover women”; roster of feminisation terms; Daji, Bao Si & the origin of BJYX; roster of beautiful, ancient Chinese men; Chairman Mao (not part of the roster) ...)

[TW: feminisation of men]

In the traditional BL characterisation, the M/M (double male) lead pairing is essentially a cis-het relationship in disguise, in which one of the M leads is viewed as the “wife” by the creator and audience. This lead often possesses some of the features of the traditional, stereotypical female, but retaining his male appearance. 

In BL terms, the “wife” is the “uke”. “Seme” and “uke” are the respective roles taken by the two male leads, and designated by the creator of the material. Literally, “seme” (攻め) means the dominant, the attacking / aggressive partner in the relationship and “uke” (受け), the passive / recipient (of actions) partner who tends to follow the seme’s lead. The terms themselves do not have any sexual / gender context.  However, as male and female are viewed as aggressive and passive by their traditional social roles, and the attacker and recipient by their traditional sexual roles respectively, BL fandoms have long assigned uke, the passive, sexual “bottom”, as the “woman”, the “wife”. 

Danmei has kept this “semi” and uke” tradition from BL, taking the kanji of the Japanese terms for designation ~ 攻 (”attack” is therefore the “husband”, and 受 (”receive”), the “wife”. The designations are often specified in the introduction / summary of Danmei works as warning / enticement. For MDZS, for example, MXTX wrote:

高貴冷豔悶騷 攻 × 邪魅狂狷風騷 受

高貴冷豔悶騷 攻 = noble, coolly beautiful and boring seme (referring to LWJ)  邪魅狂狷風騷 受 = devilishly charming, wild, and flirty uke (referring to WWX) 

The traditional, stereotypical female traits given to the “uke”, the “wife” in Danmei and their associated fanworks range from their personality to behaviour to even biological functions. Those who have read the sex scenes in MDZS may be aware of their lack of mention of lube, while WWX was written as getting (very) wet from fluids from his colon (腸道) ~ implying that his colon, much like a vagina, was supplying the necessarily lubrication for sex. This is obviously biologically inaccurate; however, Danmei is exempt from having to be realistic by its original Tanbi definition. The genre’s primary audience is cishet females, and sex scenes such as this one aren’t aiming for realism. Rather, the primary goal of these sex scenes is to generate fantasy, and the purpose of the biologically female functions in one of the leads (WWX) is to ease the readers into imagining themselves as the one engaging in the sex.

Indeed, these practices of assigning as males and female the M/M sexual top and bottom, of emphasising of who is the top and who is the bottom, have been falling out of favour in Western slash fandoms ~ I joined fandom about 15 years ago, and top and bottom designations in slash pairings (and fights about them) were much more common than it is now.  The generally more open, more progressive environments in which Western fandomers are immersed in probably have something to do with it: they transfer their RL knowledge, their views on biology, on different social into their fandom works and discourses. 

I’d venture to say this: in the English-speaking fandoms, fandom values and mainstream values are converging. “Cancel culture” reflects an attempt to enforce RL values in the fictional worlds in fandom. Fandom culture is slowly, but surely, leaving its subculture status and becoming part of mainstream culture. 

I’d hesitate to call c-Danmei fandoms backward compared to Western slash for this reason. There’s little hope for Danmei to converge with China’s mainstream culture in the short term ~ the necessity of replacing Danmei with Dangai in visual media already reflects that. Danmei is and will likely remain subculture in the foreseeable future, and subcultures, at heart, are protests against the mainstream. Unless China and the West define “mainstream” very similarly (and they don’t), it is difficult to compare the “progressiveness”—and its dark side, the “problematic-ness”—of the protests, which are shaped by what they’re protesting against. The “shaper” in this scenario, the mainstream values and culture, are also far more forceful under China’s authoritarian government than they are in the free(-er) world. 

Danmei, therefore, necessarily takes on a different form in China than BL or slash outside China. As a creative pursuit, it serves to fulfil psychological needs that are reflective of its surrounding culture and sociopolitical environment. The genre’s “problematic” / out of place aspects in the eyes of Western fandoms are therefore, like all other aspects of the genre, tailor-made by its millions of fans to be comforting / cathartic for the unique culture and sociopolitical background it and they find themselves in. 

I briefly detoured to talk about the Chinese government’s campaign to pressure young, educated Chinese women into matrimony and motherhood in the post for this reason, as it is an example of how, despite Western fandoms’ progressiveness, they may be inadequate, distant for c-Danmei fans. Again, this article is a short and a ... morbidly-entertaining read on what has been said about China’s “leftover women” (剩女) — women who are unmarried and over 27-years-old). I talked about it, because “Women should enter marriage and parenthood in their late 20s” may no longer a mainstream value in many Western societies, but where it still is, it exerts a strong influence on how women view romance, and by extension, how they interact with romantic fiction, including Danmei.

In China, this influence is made even stronger by the fact that Chinese tradition  places a strong emphasis on education and holds a conservative attitude towards romance and sex. Dating while studying therefore remains discouraged in many Chinese families. University-educated Chinese women therefore have an extremely short time frame — between graduation (~23 years old) and their 27th birthday — to find “the right one” and get married, before they are labelled as “leftovers” and deemed undesirable. (Saving) face being an important aspect in Chinese culture introduces yet another layer of pressure: traditionally, women who don’t get married by the age agreed by social norms have been viewed as failures of upbringing, in that the unmarried women’s parents not having taught/trained their daughters well. Filial, unmarried women therefore try to get married “on time” just to avoid bringing shame to their family.

The outcome is this: despite the strong women characters we may see in Chinese visual media, many young Chinese women nowadays do not expect themselves to be able to marry for love. Below, I offer a “book jacket summary” of a popular internet novel in China, which shows how the associated despair also affects cis-het fictional romance. Book reviews praise this novel for being “boring”: the man and woman leads are both common working class people, the “you-and-I”’s; the mundaneness of them trying build their careers and their love life is lit by one shining light: he loves her and she loves him. 

Written in her POV, this summary reflects, perhaps, the disquiet felt by many contemporary Chinese women university graduates:

曾經以為，自己這輩子都等不到了—— 世界這麼大，我又走得這麼慢，要是遇不到良人要怎麼辦？早過了「全球三十幾億男人，中國七億男人，天涯何處無芳草」的猖狂歲月，越來越清楚，循規蹈矩的生活中，我們能熟悉進而深交的異性實在太有限了，有限到我都做好了「接受他人的牽線，找個適合的男人慢慢煨熟，再平淡無奇地進入婚姻」的準備，卻在生命意外的拐彎處迎來自己的另一半。

I once thought, my wait will never come to fruition for the rest of my life — the world is so big, I’m so slow in treading it, what if I’ll never meet the one? I’ve long passed the wild days of thinking “3 billion men exist on Earth, 0.7 of which are Chinese. There is plenty more fish in the sea.” I’m seeing, with increasing clarity, that in our disciplined lives, the number of opposite-sex we can get to know, and get to know well, is so limited. It’s so limited that I’m prepared to accept someone’s matchmaking, find a suitable man and slowly, slowly, warm up to him, and then, to enter marriage with without excitement, without wonder. But then, an accidental turn in my life welcomes in my other half.

— Oath of Love (餘生，請多指教) (Yes, this is the novel Gg’d upcoming drama is based on.) 

Heteronormativity is, of course, very real in China. However, that hasn’t exempted Chinese women, even its large cis-het population, from having their freedom to pursue their true love taken away from them. Even for cis-het relationships, being able to marry for love has become a fantasy —a fantasy scorned by the state. Remember this quote from Article O3 in the original post? 

耽改故事大多远离现实，有些年轻受众却将其与生活混为一谈，产生不以结婚和繁衍为目的才是真爱之类的偏颇认知。

Most Dangai stories are far removed from reality; some young audience nonetheless mix them up with real life, develop biased understanding such as “only love that doesn’t treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations is true love”. 

I didn’t focus on it in the previous posts, in an effort to keep the discussion on topic. But why did the op-ed piece pick this as an example of fantasy-that-shouldn’t-be-mixed-up-with-real-life, in the middle of a discussion about perceived femininity of men that actually has little to do with matrimony and reproduction? 

Because the whole point behind the state’s “leftover women” campaign is precisely to get women to treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations, not beautiful sceneries that happen along the way. And they’re the state’s destination as more children = higher birth rate that leads to higher future productivity. The article is therefore calling out Danmei for challenging this “mainstream value”.

Therefore, while the statement True love doesn’t treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations may be trite for many of us while it may be a point few, if any, English-speaking fandoms may pay attention to, to the mainstream culture Danmei lives in, to the mainstream values dictated by the state, it is borderline subversive.

As much as Danmei may appear “tame” for its emphasis on beauty and romance, for it to have stood for so long, so firmly against China’s (very) forceful mainstream culture, the genre is also fundamentally rebellious.  Remember: Danmei has little hope of converging with China’s mainstream unless it “sells its soul” and removes its homoerotic elements. 

With rebelliousness, too, comes a bit of tongue-in-cheek.

And so, when c-Danmei fans, most of whom being cishet women who interact with the genre by its traditional BL definition, call one of the leads 老婆 (wife), it can and often take on a different flavour. As said before, it can be less about feminizing the lead than about identifying with the lead. The nickname 老婆 (wife) can be less about being disrespectful and more about humorously expressing an aspiration—the aspiration to have a husband who truly loves them, who they do want to get married and have babies with but out of freedom and not obligation.

Admittedly, I had been confused, and bothered by these “can-be”s myself. Just because there are alternate reasons for the feminisation to happen doesn’t mean the feminisation itself is excusable. But why the feminisation of M/M leads doesn’t sound as awful to me in Chinese as in English? How can calling a self-identified man 老婆 (wife) get away with not sounding being predominantly disrespectful to my ears, when I would’ve frowned at the same thing said in my vicinity in English?

I had an old hypothesis: when I was little, it was common to hear people calling acquaintances in Chinese by their unflattering traits:  “Deaf-Eared Chan” (Mr Chan, who’s deaf), “Fat Old Woman Lan” (Ah-Lan, who’s an overweight woman) etc—and the acquaintances were perfectly at ease with such identifications, even introducing themselves to strangers that way. Comparatively speaking then, 老婆 (wife) is harmless, even endearing. 

老婆, which literally means “old old-lady” (implying wife = the woman one gets old with), first became popularised as a colloquial, casual way of calling “wife” in Hong Kong and its Cantonese dialect, despite the term itself being about 1,500 years old. As older generations of Chinese were usually very shy about talking about their love lives, those who couldn’t help themselves and regularly spoke of their 老婆 tended to be those who loved their wives in my memory. 老婆, as a term, probably became endearing to me that way. 

Maybe this is why the feminisation of M/M leads didn’t sound so bad to me?

This hypothesis was inadequate, however. This custom of identifying people by their (unflattering) traits has been diminishing in Hong Kong and China, for similar reasons it has been considered inappropriate in the West.

Also, 老婆 (wife) is not the only term used for / associated with feminisation. I’ve tried to limit the discussion to Danmei, the fictional genre; now, I’ll jump to its associated RPS genre, and specifically, the YiZhan fandoms. The purpose of this jump: with real people involved, feminisation’s effect is potentially more harmful, more acute. Easier to feel. 

YiZhan fans predominantly entered the fandoms through The Untamed, and they’ve also transferred Danmei’s  “seme”/“uke” customs into YiZhan. There are, therefore, three c-YiZhan fandoms:

博君一肖 (BJYX): seme Dd, uke Gg 戰山為王 (ZSWW): seme Gg, uke Dd 連瑣反應 (LSFY): riba Gg and Dd. Riba = “reversible”, and unlike “seme” and “uke”, is a frequently-used term in the Japanese gay community. 

BJYX is by far the largest of the three, likely due to Gg having played WWX, the “uke” in MDZS / TU. I’ll therefore focus on this fandom, ie. Gg is the “uke”, the “wife”.

For Gg alone, I’ve seen him being also referred to by YiZhan fans as (and this is far from a complete list):

* 姐姐 (sister) * 嫂子 (wife of elder brother; Dd being the elder brother implied) * 妃妃 (based on the very first YiZhan CP name, 太妃糖 Toffee Candy, a portmanteau of sorts from Dd being the 太子 “prince” of his management company and Gg being the prince’s wife, 太子妃. 糖 = “candy”. 太妃 sounds like toffee in English and has been used as the latter’s Chinese translation.) * 美人 (beauty, as in 肖美人 “Beauty Xiao”) * Daji 妲己 (as in 肖妲己, “Daji Xiao”). 

The last one needs historical context, which will also become important for explaining the new hypothesis I have.

Daji was a consort who lived three thousand years ago, whose beauty was blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty. Gg (and men sharing similar traits, who are exceptionally rare) has been compared to Daji 妲己 for his alternatively innocent, alternatively seductive beauty ~ the kind of beauty that, in Chinese historical texts and folk lores, lead to the fall of kingdoms when possessed by the king’s beloved woman. This kind of “I-get-to-ruin-her-virginity”, “she’s a slut in MY bedroom” beauty is, of course, a stereotypical fantasy for many (cis-het) men, which included the authors of these historical texts and folklores. However, it also contained some truth: the purity / innocence, the image of a virgin, was required for an ancient woman to be chosen as a consort; the seduction, meanwhile, helped her to become the top consort, and monopolise the attention of kings and emperors who often had hundreds of wives ~ wives who often put each other in danger to eliminate competition. 

Nowadays, women of tremendous beauty are still referred to by the Chinese idiom 傾國傾城, literally, ”falling countries, falling cities”. The beauty is also implied to be natural, expressed in a can’t-help-itself way, perhaps reflecting the fact that the ancient beauties on which this idiom has been used couldn’t possibly have plastic surgeries, and most of them didn’t meet a good end ~ that they had to pay a price for their beauty, and often, with their lowly status as women, as consorts, they didn’t get to choose whether they wanted to pay this price or not. This adjective is considered to be very flattering. Gg’s famous smile from the Thailand Fanmeet has been described, praised as 傾城一笑: “a smile that topples a city”.

I’m explaining Daji and 傾國傾城 because the Chinese idiom 博君一笑 “doing anything to get a smile from you”, from which the ship’s name BJYX 博君一肖  was derived (笑 and 肖 are both pronounced “xiao”), is connected to yet another of such dynasty-falling beauty, Bao Si 褒姒. Like Daji before her, Bao Si was blamed for the end of the Zhou Dynasty in 771 BC. 

The legend went like this: Bao Si was melancholic, and to get her to smile, her king lit warning beacons and got his nobles to rush in from the nearby vassal states with their armies to come and rescue him, despite not being in actual danger. The nobles, in their haste, looked so frantic and dishevelled that Bao Si found it funny and smiled. Longing to see more of the smile of his favourite woman, the king would fool his nobles again and again, until his nobles no longer heeded the warning beacons when an actual rebellion came. 

What the king did has been described as 博紅顏一笑, with 紅顏 (”red/flushed face”) meaning a beautiful woman, referring to Bao Si. Replace 紅顏 with the respectful “you”, 君, we get 博君一笑. If one searches the origin of the phrase 博 [fill_in_the_blank]一笑 online, Bao Si’s story shows up.

The “anything” in ”doing anything to get a smile from you” in 博君一笑, therefore, is not any favour, but something as momentous as giving away one’s own kingdom. c-turtles have remarked, to their amusement and admittedly mine, that “king”, in Chinese, is written as 王, which is Dd’s surname, and very occasionally, they jokingly compare him to the hopeless kings who’d give away everything for their love. Much like 傾國傾城 has become a flattering idiom despite the negative reputations of Daji and Bao Si for their “men-ruining ways”, 博君一笑 has become a flattering phrase, emphasising on the devotion and love rather than the ... stupidity behind the smile-inducing acts. 

(Bao Si’s story, BTW, was a lie made up by historians who also lived later but also thousands of years ago, to absolve the uselessness of the king. Warning beacons didn’t exist at her time.)  

Gg is arguably feminized even in his CP’s name. Gg’s feminisation is everywhere. 

And here comes my confession time ~ I’ve been amused by most of the feminisation terms above. 肖妲己 (”Daji Xiao”) captures my imagination, and I remain quite partial to the CP name BJYX. Somehow, there’s something ... somewhat forgivable when the feminisation is based on Gg’s beauty, especially in the context of the historical Danmei / Dangai setting of MDZS/TU ~ something that, while doesn’t cancel, dampens the “problematic-ness” of the gender mis-identification.

What, exactly, is this something?

Here’s my new hypothesis, and hopefully I’ll manage to explain it well ~

The hypothesis is this: the unisex beauty standard for historical Chinese men and women, which is also breathtakingly similar to the modern beauty standard for Chinese women, makes feminisation in the context of Danmei (especially historical Danmei) flattering, and easier to accept.

What defined beauty in historical Chinese men? If I am to create a classically beautiful Chinese man for my new historical Danmei, how would I describe him based on what I’ve read, my cultural knowledge?

Here’s a list:

* Skin fair and smooth as white jade * Thin, even frail; narrow/slanted shoulders; tall * Dark irises and bright, starry eyes * Not too dense, neat eyebrows that are shaped like swords ~ pointed slightly upwards from the center towards the sides of the face * Depending on the dynasty, nice makeup.

Imagine these traits. How “macho” are they? How much do they fit the ideal Chinese masculine beauty advertised by Chinese government, which looks like below?

Propaganda poster, 1969. The caption says “Defeat Imperialist US! Defeat Social Imperialism!” The book’s name is “Quotations from Mao Zedong”. (Source)

Where did that list of traits I’ve written com from? Fair like jade, frail ... why are they so far from the ... “macho”ness of the men in the poster? 

What has Chinese history said about its beautiful men? 

Wei Jie (衛玠 286-312 BCE), one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men (古代四大美男) recorded in Chinese history famously passed away when fans of his beauty gathered and formed a wall around him, blocking his way. History recorded Wei as being frail with chronic illness, and was only 27 years old when he died. Arguably the first historical account of “crazy fans killing their idol”, this incident left the idiom 看殺衛玠 ~ “Wei Jie being watched to death.” ~ a not very “macho” way to die at all.

潘安 (Pan An; 247-300 BCE), another one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men, also had hoards of fangirls, who threw fruits and flowers at him whenever he ventured outside. The Chinese idiom 擲果盈車 “thrown fruit filling a cart” was based on Pan and ... his fandom, and denotes such scenarios of men being so beautiful that women openly displayed their affections for them. 

Meanwhile, when Pan went out with his equally beautiful male friend, 夏侯湛 Xiahou Zhan, folks around them called them 連璧 ~ two connected pieces of perfect jade. Chinese Jade is white, smooth, faintly glowing in light, so delicate that it gives the impression of being somewhat transparent.

Aren’t Wei Jie and Pan An reminiscent of modern day Chinese idols, the “effeminate�� “Little Fresh Meat”s (小鲜肉) so panned by Article O3? Their stories, BTW, also elucidated the historical reference in LWJ’s description of being jade-like in MDZS, and in WWX and LWJ being thrown pippas along the Gusu river bank. 

Danmei, therefore, didn’t create a trend of androgynous beauty in men as much as it has borrowed the ancient, traditional definition of masculine Chinese beauty ~ the beauty that was more feminine than masculine by modern standards.  

[Perhaps, CPs should be renamed 連璧 (”two connected pieces of perfect jade”) as a reminder of the aesthetics’ historical roots.]

Someone may exclaim now: But. But!! Yet another one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men, 高長恭 (Gao Changgong, 541-573 BCE), far better known by his title, 蘭陵王 (”the Prince of Lanling”), was a famous general. He had to be “macho”, right?

... As it turns out, not at all. Historical texts have described Gao as “貌柔心壮，音容兼美” (”soft in looks and strong at heart, beautiful face and voice”), “白美類婦人” (”fair and beautiful as a woman”), “貌若婦人” (”face like a woman”). Legends have it that The Prince of Lanling’s beauty was so soft, so lacking in authority that he had to wear a savage mask to get his soldiers to listen to his command (and win) on the battlefield (《樂府雜錄》: 以其顏貌無威，每入陣即著面具，後乃百戰百勝).

This should be emphasised: Gao’s explicitly feminine descriptions were recorded in historical texts as arguments *for* his beauty. Authors of these texts, therefore, didn’t view the feminisation as insult. In fact, they used the feminisation to drive the point home, to convince their readers that men like the Prince of Lanling were truly, absolutely good looking.

Being beautiful like a women was therefore high praise for men in, at least, significant periods in Chinese history ~ periods long and important enough for these records to survive until today. Beauty, and so it goes, had once been largely free of distinctions between the masculine and feminine.

One more example of an image of an ancient Chinese male beauty being similar to its female counterpart, because the history nerd in me finds this fun. 

何晏 (He Yan, ?-249 BCE) lived in the Wei Jin era (between 2nd to 4th century), during which makeup was really en vogue. Known for his beauty, he was also famous for his love of grooming himself. The emperor, convinced that He Yan’s very fair skin was from the powder he was wearing, gave He Yan some very hot foods to eat in the middle of the summer. He Yan began to sweat, had to wipe himself with his sleeves and in the process, revealed to the emperor that his fair beauty was 100% natural ~ his skin glowed even more with the cosmetics removed (《世說新語·容止第十四》: 何平叔美姿儀，面至白。魏明帝疑其傅粉，正夏月，與熱湯餅。既啖，大汗出，以朱衣自拭，色轉皎然). His kick-cosmetics’-ass fairness won him the nickname 傅粉何郎 (”powder-wearing Mr He”).

Not only would He Yan very likely be mistaken as a woman if this scene is transferred to a modern setting, but this scene can very well fit inside a Danmei story of the 21st century and is very, very likely to get axed by the Chinese censorship board for its visualisation. 

[Important observation from this anecdote: the emperor was totally into this trend too.]

The adjectives and phrases used above to describe these beautiful ancient Chinese men ~ 貌柔, 音容兼美, 白美, 美姿儀, 皎然 ~ have all become pretty much reserved for describing beauty in women nowadays. Beauty standards in ancient China were, as mentioned before, had gone through significantly long periods in which they were largely genderless. The character for beauty 美 (also in Danmei, 耽美) used to have little to no gender association. Free of gender associations as well were the names of many flowers. The characters for orchid (蘭) and lotus (蓮), for example, were commonly found in men’s names as late as the Republican era (early 20th century), but are now almost exclusively found in women’s names. Both orchid and lotus have historically been used to indicate 君子 (junzi, roughly, “gentlemen”), which have always been men. MDZS also has an example of a man named after a flower: Jin Ling’s courtesy name, given to him by WWX,  was 如蘭 (”like an orchid”). 

A related question may be this: why does ancient China associate beauty with fairness, with softness, with frailty? Likely, because Confucianist philosophy and customs put a heavy emphasis on scholarship ~ and scholars have mostly consisted of soft-spoken, not muscular, not working-under-the-sun type of men. More importantly, Confucianist scholars also occupied powerful government positions. Being, and looking like a Confucianist scholar was therefore associated with status. Indeed, it’s very difficult to look like jade when one was a farmer or a soldier, for example, who constantly had to toil under the sun, whose skin was constantly being dried and roughened by the elements. Having what are viewed as “macho” beauty traits as in the poster above ~ tanned skin, bulging muscles, bony structures (which also take away the jade’s smoothness) ~ were associated with hard labour, poverty and famine.

Along that line, 手無縛雞之力 (“hands without the strength to restrain a chicken”) has long been a phrase used to describe ancient scholars and students, and without scorn or derision. Love stories of old, which often centred around scholars were, accordingly, largely devoid of the plot lines of husbands physically protecting the wives, performing the equivalent of climbing up castle walls and fighting dragons etc. Instead, the faithful husbands wrote poems, combed their wife’s hair, traced their wife’s eyebrows with cosmetics (畫眉)...all activities that didn’t require much physical strength, and many of which are considered “feminine” nowadays.

Were there periods in Chinese history in which more ... sporty men and women were appreciated? Yes. the Tang dynasty, for example, and the Yuan and Qing dynasties. The Tang dynasty, as a very powerful, very open era in Chinese history, was known for its relations to the West (via the Silk Road). The Yuan and Qing dynasties, meanwhile, were established by Mongolians and Manchus respectively, who, as non-Han people, had not been under the influence of Confucian culture and grew up on horsebacks, rather than in schools.

The idea that beautiful Chinese men should have “macho” attributes was, therefore, largely a consequence of non-Han-Chinese influence, especially after early 20th century. That was when the characters for beauty (美), orchid (蘭), lotus (蓮) etc began their ... feminisation. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which started its reign of the country starting 1949, also has foreign roots, being a derivative of the Soviets, and its portrayal of ideal men has been based on the party’s ideology, painting them as members of the People’s Liberation Army (Chinese army) and its two major proletariat classes, farmers and industrial workers ~ all occupations that are “macho” in their aesthetics, but held at very poor esteem in ancient Chinese societies. All occupations that, to this day, may be hailed as noble by Chinese women, but not really deemed attractive by them.

Beauty, being an instinct, is perhaps much more resistant to propaganda.

If anything, the three terms Article O3 used to describe “effeminate” men ~ 奶油小生 “cream young men” (popularised in 1980s) , 花美男 “flowery beautiful men” (early 2000s), 小鲜肉 “little fresh meat” (coined in 2014 and still popular now) ~ only informs me how incredibly consistent the modern Chinese women’s view of ideal male beauty has been. It’s the same beauty the Chinese Communist Party has called feminine. It’s the same beauty found in Danmei. It’s the same beauty that, when witnessed in men in ancient China, was so revered that historians recorded it for their descendants to remember. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any women who appreciate the "macho” type ~ it’s just that, the appreciation for the non-macho type has never really gone out of fashion, never really changed. The only thing that is really changing is the name of the type, the name’s positive or negative connotations.

(Personally, I’m far more uncomfortable with the name “Little fresh meat” (小鲜肉) than 老婆 (wife). I find it much more insulting.)

Anyway, what I’d like to say is this: feminisation in Danmei ~ a genre that, by definition, is hyper-focused on aesthetics ~ may not be as "problematic” in Chinese as it is in English, because the Chinese tradition didn’t make that much of a differentiation between masculine and feminine beauty. Once again, this isn’t to say such mis-gendering isn’t disrespectful; it’s just that, perhaps, it is less disrespectful because Chinese still retains a cultural memory in which equating a beautiful man to a beautiful woman was the utmost flattery. 

I must put a disclaimer here: I cannot vouch for this being true for the general Chinese population. This is something that is buried deep enough inside me that it took a lot of thought for me to tease out, to articulate. More importantly, while I grow up in a Chinese-speaking environment, I’ve never lived inside China. My history knowledge, while isn’t shabby, hasn’t been filtered through the state education system.

I’d also like to point out as well, along this line of thought, that in *certain* (definitely not all) aspects, Chinese society isn’t as sexist as the West. While historically, China has periods of extreme sexism against women, with the final dynasties of Ming and Qing being examples, I must (reluctantly) acknowledge Chairman Mao for significantly lifting the status of women during his rule. Here’s a famous quote of his from 1955:

婦女能頂半邊天 Women can lift half the skies

The first marriage code, passed in 1950, outlawed forced marriages, polygamy, and ensured equal rights between husband and wife.  For the first time in centuries, women were encouraged to go outside of their homes and work. Men resisted at first, wanting to keep their wives at home; women who did work were judged poorly for their performance and given less than 50% of men’s wage, which further fuelled the men’s resistance. Mao said the above quote after a commune in Guizhou introduced the “same-work-same-wage” system to increase its productivity, and he asked for the same system to to be replicated across the country. (Source)

When Chairman Mao wanted something, it happened. Today, Chinese women’s contribution to the country’s GDP remains among the highest in the world.  They make up more than half of the country’s top-scoring students. They’re the dominant gender in universities, in the ranks of local employees of international corporations in the Shanghai and Beijing central business districts—among the most sought after jobs in the country. While the inequality between men and women in the workplace is no where near wiped out — stories about women having to sleep with higher-ups to climb the career ladder, or even get their PhDs are not unheard of, and the central rulership of the Chinese Communist Party has been famously short of women — the leap in women’s rights has been significant over the past century, perhaps because of how little rights there had been before ~ at the start of the 20th century, most Chinese women from relatively well-to-do families still practised foot-binding, in which their feet were literally crushed during childhood in the name of beauty, of status symbol. They couldn’t even walk properly.

Perhaps, the contemporary Chinese women’s economic contribution makes the sexism they encounter in their lives, from the lack of reproductive rights to the “leftover women” label, even harder to swallow. It makes their fantasies fly to even higher, more defiant heights. The popularity of Dangai right now is pretty much driven by women, as acknowledged by Article O3. Young women, especially, female fans who people have dismissed as “immature”, “crazy”, are responsible for the threat the Chinese government is feeling now by the genre.

This is no small feat. While the Chinese government complains about the “effeminate” men from Danmei / Dangai, its propaganda has been heavily reliant on stars who have risen to popularity to these genres. The film Dd is currently shooting, Chinese Peacekeeping Force (維和部隊), also stars Huang Jingyu (黄景瑜), and Zhang Zhehan (張哲瀚) ~ the three actors having shot to fame from The Untamed (Dangai), Addicted (Danmei), and Word of Honour (Dangai) respectively.  Zhang, in particular, played the “uke” role in Word of Honour and has also been called 老婆 (wife) by his fans. The quote in Article O3, “Ten years as a tough man known by none; one day as a beauty known by all” was also implicitly referring to him.

Perhaps, the government will eventually realise that millennia-old standards of beauty are difficult to bend, and by extension, what is considered appropriate gender expression of Chinese men and women. 

In the metas I’ve posted, therefore, I’ve hesitated in using terms such as homophobia, sexism, and ageism etc, opting instead to make long-winded explanations that essentially amount to these terms (thank you everyone who’s reading for your patience!). Because while the consequence is similar—certain fraction of the populations are subjected to systemic discrimination, abuse, given less rights, treated as inferior etc—these words, in English, also come with their own context, their own assumptions that may not apply to the situation. It reminds me of what Leo Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina,

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Discrimination in each country, each culture is humiliating, unhappy in its own way. Both sexism and homophobia are rampant in China, but as their roots are different from those of the West, the ways they manifest are different, and so must the paths to their dissolution. I’ve also hesitated on calling out individual behaviours or confronting individuals for this reason. i-Danmei fandoms are where i-fans and c-fans meet, where English-speaking doesn’t guarantee a non-Chinese sociopolitical background (there may be students from China, for example; I’m also ... not entirely Western), and I find it difficult to articulate appropriate, convincing arguments without knowing individual backgrounds.

Frankly, I’m not sure if I’ve done the right thing. Because I do hope feminisation will soon fade into extinction, especially in i-Danmei fandoms that, if they continue to prosper on international platforms, may eventually split from c-Danmei fandoms along the cultural (not language) line due to the vast differences in environmental constraints. My hope is especially true when real people are involved, and c-fandoms, I’d like to note, are not unaware of the issues surrounding feminisation ~ it has already been explicitly forbidden in BJYX’s supertopic on Weibo. 

At the same time, I’ve spent so many words above to try to explain why beauty can *sometimes* lurk behind such feminisations. Please allow me to end this post with one example of feminisation that I deeply dislike—and I’ve seen it used by fans on Gg as well—is 綠茶 (”green tea”), from 綠茶婊 (”green tea whore”) that means women who look pure / innocent but are, deep down, promiscuous / lustful. In some ways, its meaning isn’t so different from Daji 妲己, the consort blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty. However, to me at least, the flattery in the feminisation is gone, perhaps because of the character “whore” (婊), because the term originated in 2013 from a notorious sex party rather than from a legendary beauty so maligned that The Investiture of the Gods (封神演義), the seminal Chinese fiction written ~2,600 years after Daji’s death, re-imagined her as a malevolent fox spirit (狐狸精) that many still remembers her as today.

Ah, to be caught between two cultures. :)

[white-queen-lacus]

Frederica and Homura as potential love interests?

Ok, before writing this post, I must admit that this thought has been wandering in my mind for some time and I will do my best to be as analytical as I can in the explanation. First of all, I've truly and wholeheartedly supported Shinkane since season 1 and I am sure that before or after, they will be endgame (in Psycho Pass' meaning, well... offscreen if we're lucky enough), so this post is just an attempt to see what is happening.

Let's make a premise: PP3, among all the seasons of PP, is the one that addressed romance in a more evident way, somehow. Not that it is a priority and it's fair as it is, since the focus of the series is basically human nature and its reaction to a world dominated by AI, but among the three seasons, PP3 caressed the topic. Not that it wasn't already addressed in the previous installments (Shion and Yayoi, Kaori's wedding, Akane's growing fascination, and not-so-well-hidden attraction and love for Kougami, Mika and her schoolmate, just to say), but starting with Sinners of the System, something else happened. Masaoka and Sae, Sugo and his friend's wife (tell me whatever, but he seemed to care a little bit too much and I found something similar in Arata's behavior towards Maiko)... and in season 3, the already mentioned Arata, both with Maiko (the hospital scene) and Karina, but also with Irie and Mao (I loved the whole music box scene) and Mao *not-so-well-hidden* fancying Kei. Did I mention the brief and glorious Shinkane's scenes? The cherry blossoms in First Inspector screamed "LOVE" in caps lock.

Well, ladies first, so let's talk about the mysterious and glamorous agent of the SAD: Hanashiro Frederica. When her character was revealed, all of us (or at least, the majority) thought that she could be a potential threat or a possible enemy. So far, it seems that apart from bigger fanservice than all the girls in PP, a still-secret agenda, and the fact that she managed to recruit Kougami, Gino and Sugo in her team (as well as granting them some privileges), there isn't any evidence that she could be an enemy. Yes, the whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs/SAD goals and mission aren't clear, that's why I hope we might get PP4 or a dedicated special, in order to understand more about them and her apparently personal motivations too. Now... thanks to the lovely @kumapillow who kindly translated the SAD extra chapter, something made me wonder. I already said in another post that Frederica seems to have a soft spot for Kougami. Just a few words about Kougami. So far, with the exception of the novels, where his feelings are clearer, he's never shown particular interest in women (or relationships in general). In the profiling book, it's said that he doesn't remember his first love, but it's also said that he would let Sybil choose for him once the time comes, until the movie updated version when it's said that his favorite type of girl is a companion who can keep up a conversation. Considering that in season 1 he was revenge-driven and Makishima-absorbed, romance was practically out of question (also, if we consider that he's been a workaholic since he was an Inspector, I'm not this impressed if he never had a proper relationship). Complete silence in season 2, then in the movies he said that wherever he goes, he's punctually involved in some conflict, aka... no time for romance again (for ghost!Makishima's joy). I read sometimes that the fact that he declined Shion's advances in episode 18 with the sentence "I don't think we are each others' type" was eloquent about his sexuality, since he probably is gay or bi, at least. I don't think he is, but simply, being the kind person he is, Kougami just found a colloquial way to remember Shion where her heart truly laid (and in the novel, it's more obvious). No surprise, during the fight against Rutaganda, when the mercenary said that listening to Kougami made him happy like he was listening to some Wagner's piéce, Kougami promptly answers that he could have rather listened to those words from a glamorous beauty than from him (he used the word "bijin" there). I won't mention all the Shinkane subtle of the movie, but it was truly obvious how things had changed for Akane and Kougami and what could have been happened if the mercenaries hadn't come. Case 3 shows that his relationship with the fair sex still hasn't progressed this much... though I LOVED Kougami's interactions with Tenzing and the teasing of the little girl who said that he reminded her of her dad (ok, that's progress, since in a radio drama both he and Gino made a small child crying because of their idiocy) and I headcanon that in the years past Case 3 Kou had some chances to hear back from Tenzing (because of MoFA and Frederica's care), when it comes to the blonde colleague... I guess that things haven't changed this much. Now, so far, Kougami has NEVER shown any sign of reciprocating Frederica's possible feelings, but it seems that he's the only one who knows how to cheer her up or to understand her. Coming back to Frederica, after this digression, that's the core: she technically has all the qualities Kougami would possibly need. She's a glamorous beauty (hello there, reference to the gekijouban). She's a companion who could keep up a conversation. This point is trickier, because the conversation under the moonlight (now that it comes to my mind, it was also said that if he ever had to set a date, he would probably talk about work or taking somebody to stargaze), which largely reminds me of his conversation with Akane in the movie (I'm talking about the structure of the scene in general), shows that

Frederica too is perfectly able to lecture Kougami and pull the shits out of him about his true motives for keeping on traveling, she's been interested in him since the lessons with professor Saiga, but also... the fact that she mentioned his mother, I think was some kind of a rehash of the novel version of the conversation between Akane and Kou. I was under the impression that Ubukata and Shiotani were trying to test the waters... Also, Frederica is a skilled fighter, she has a no-nonsense attitude and she's pretty harsh in what she says, but she's also friendly, humorous, and caring (the days they spent together with Tenzing). Then the renowned scene of the two of them making the deal... ok, I need to admit that in the beginning, I didn't see it as malicious, neither I do it now, but... mhhh... sharing the same bottle of water to make a deal... well... kinda intimate, right? Not that Kougami made a fuss, but Frederica was... pleased? After all, she didn't do any of this with Sugo (also, her approach to him was more formal) and we still don't know how she recruited Gino (I think it happened because of Kougami, after Akane's demotion)... I don't know, but it seems to me that her approach toward Kougami (at least in Case 3 and in the manga extras) is more personal... after all, when she approached him the first time, she was quite intrigued, since she wanted to take a look at the face of a celebrity like him (all said while pleasantly smiling). The extra chapter shows that while Gino and Sugo's efforts to help their chief were wasted (not for us who read), only Kougami's proposal was well received by her. Shooting like in a guerrilla field... after all, Frederica is a tough one (just like Akane) and Kougami knows it very well... like Gino adds at the end, she's definitely a female version of him, but she also is somebody able to kick Kou's glorious ass (just like Akane). Now, time will say where the truth is, but I feel like that if Ubukata and Shiotani keep on following the route "there's a deep respect and a bond which goes beyond love and romance between Shinkane... and also Kougami doesn't see Akane in that way", and instead they choose to spice things up (but I don't think so) Frederica might be the one chosen. Luckily enough, our dear former Enforcer seems to have chosen the celibate warrior monk route, but I'm still sure that things can change and in the end, the most natural outcome will be Shinkane. Well... since the post has become longer than I expected, I'll write another time of Shizuka and Akane, but thanks for reading until now!

[etirabys]

I read about a very cute and strange online marriage match in Age of Ambition. Before I jump into how they met, let me introduce one half of the couple, a woman named Gong Haiyan (born Hainan) – she was very entrepreneurial as a child and ended up founding a very popular e-dating service right when China was starting to use the internet. (While writing this post I discovered this particular chapter was also a New Yorker article.)

Gong Hainan was born at the foot of a mountain in the village of Waduangang, in Hunan, the home province of Chairman Mao. Her parents met under benighted circumstances. During the Cultural Revolution, they were paired with each other because they shared a political affliction: their families had been classified as “well-off peasants.” A village matchmaker put them together. Gong’s family raised peanuts and cotton and chickens and pigs. 

...

When her neighbors began to open tiny businesses, Gong badgered her parents to let her join the trend. They laughed. “We have three neighbors, and a mountain behind us. Who is going to shop here?” they asked. Undeterred, Gong enlisted her little brother, Haibin, into a business proposition: They would buy ice pops and resell them door-to-door. After one day of lugging a thirty-pound Styrofoam cooler around the rutted village paths, her brother quit. “I could’ve beaten him half to death and he wouldn’t go out again,” she said. But Gong made a map of the village that identified which parents were known to cave in to their kids’ demands, and she charted the optimal route. Soon she was selling two boxes a day. “Whatever you’re doing,” she concluded, “you have to be strategic.” 

(I freaking love this kid)

When Gong was sixteen, her test scores earned her a place at the top local high school, a transformative moment for a farming family. Shortly before school was to start, she was riding into town on a tractor-taxi, on her way to restock her ice pop supply, when the tractor plunged into a ditch. The other passengers were thrown clear, but she had been sitting on the front bench. Her right leg was crushed, and her nose was nearly severed. She would recover, but when she got out of the hospital, wearing a hip cast, she discovered that a rural school could not accommodate a student unable to walk. The school suggested she withdraw.

Gong’s mother, Jiang Xiaoyuan, would have none of it. She moved into the dorm and carried her daughter on her back—up and down the stairs to the classrooms, back and forth to the toilet. (Gong trained herself to use the bathroom no more than twice a day.) While Gong was in class, her mother hustled outside to the street to sell fruit from baskets to make extra money. I wondered if the story was a metaphor, until I met her mother. “There was one especially tall building, the laboratory, and her class was up on the fourth floor,” Jiang said, scowling at the memory of it. Gong had never seriously considered an alternative. “School was the only way out,” Jiang told me. “We never wanted for her to work in the fields like us.”

For some reason she ends up dropping out to work in a factory in a big town, does as well as she can as a migrant for a few years, but changes her mind when it becomes apparent how limited migrants’ opportunities are, and re-enrolls in school.

She had to get to a city. She said, “I decided to go back to school.” “Everyone in the village was against the idea,” she went on. “They said, ‘You’re a twenty-one-year-old woman. Go and get married!’” In the village hierarchy, the only person who ranked lower than a young woman was a young woman who had something better in mind for her future. But her parents supported her decision, and the school allowed her to reenroll in the eleventh grade. She scored the highest rank in the county on the national college entrance test, and earned a coveted spot at Peking University[, eventually gets a master's degree in journalism]

(I’m so emotional about her parents, guys, I actually teared up in the restaurant I was reading this in. Good job for supporting your incredibly talented motivated daughter in a social milieu where that’s not a normal thing to do!)

Then she founds her e-dating service. It was so popular she got profiles snailmailed in from rural hopefuls who wanted to join.

Gong was nothing like the other Web entrepreneurs I knew in China. For one thing, the top ranks of Chinese technology were dominated by men. And unlike others who glimpsed the potential of the Internet in China, she didn’t speak fluent English. She didn’t even have a degree in computer science. She still had a trace of the countryside about her. She spoke at high volume, except before crowds, when her voice trembled. She was five feet three, still with narrow shoulders, and when she talked about her business, I got the feeling that she was talking about herself. “We’re not like you foreigners, who make friends easily in a bar or go traveling and chat up a stranger,” she told me. “This is not about messing around for fun. Our membership has a very clear goal: to get married.”

That was a bit of background but hopefully it was worth it – she’s an extraordinary woman. She finds her husband on the dating service she founded, and it’s just so dense with hilarious detail –

(Guo’s posting reads as absurdly, bare-facedly picky to me, but the book lists other examples of postings on that dating website, and his criteria and phrasing are not at all atypical for Chinese men and women using the service.)

Not long after Gong Haiyan launched her business, a posting caught her eye: “Seeking a wife, 1.62 meters tall, above-average looks, graduate degree.”

The seeker was a postdoc, studying fruit flies. He liked to exercise, and he attached a jokey photograph of himself flexing his triceps in front of his lab bench. “He had the whole package,” Gong told me. Then she looked at his requirements and discovered, “I didn’t meet a single one.” She decided to answer him anyway, in a pose of high confidence. “Your announcement is not well written,” she wrote. “Even if someone meets all those requirements, she’ll think you’re picky.”

The man’s name was Guo Jianzeng, and he was embarrassed. “I’ve never written anything like this, and I don’t quite know what I’m doing,” he replied. Gong volunteered to polish his announcement. “After polishing,” she told me, “I could think of exactly four girls in the world who met the criteria, including me.”

GET HIM, GONG HAIYAN

Guo Jianzeng was thirty-three and shy. When they met, his phone had eight numbers stored in it. He was not a born romantic—his first gift to her was a replacement for a pair of broken spectacles—and he was not rich; he had less than four thousand dollars to his name. But Gong asked him to take an IQ test. She was surprised when he beat her score by five points. She was also moved by the way he cared for his widowed father. On their second date, he proposed marriage to her on the subway.

She rode sidesaddle on the back of his bicycle to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, where they paid nine yuan for a marriage certificate. The ceremony took ten minutes. Instead of a wedding ring, he bought her a laptop.

Nerds! Smart weirdos in a culture that I find alien (and sometimes horrible), doing recognizable smart weirdo things!

[shinigami-mistress]

Chapter 155: First Thoughts

I’ve just read through chapter 155 for the first time, and here are a few of my thoughts:

As I predicted, Mey-Rin had been caught by Jane, who didn’t seem mad. She explained that the rumors were true and that Heathfield did invite maids to his bedroom. Jane went on to say that he did so because he was looking for a woman that reminded him of his wife. Mey-Rin pointed out that they could limit the number of potential maids by picking out women that looked like his wife, which is a good point. If Heathfield’s wife had been a blonde with blue eyes, for example, they could only hire maids with those features, but Jane insisted that it was far more than simply appearance. She talked about personality, compatibility...and the shape of the soul. That part caught Mey-Rin’s interest, but Jane just said that he was eccentric.

The next day, it’s discovered that Annie is gone, and the maids aren’t worried. Most just seem to hope it will be their turn, but it’s Ran Mao who receives the invitation. She seems confident when she goes to visit Heathfield that night, but doesn’t return the next morning, which cause Mey-Rin to worry.

So, my thoughts? As I’ve stated before, I don’t trust Jane. I think it’s quite possible that her story about Heathfield is a bit of an exaggeration. She might be trying to make him sound sympathetic. Before, he was simply a playboy that loved sleeping with maids. Now, Jane’s story makes it seem that he’s simply lonely and lost. He’s trying to recover what has been lost. That sounds a little familiar to me.

If Heathfield isn’t merely a red herring, then it’s possible the whole searching for the ‘shape of the soul’ has something to do with resurrecting his wife. Perhaps such a thing could have been promised to him.

The rivalry between the maids continues, and it’s clear that many have worked there for a bit without ever receiving an invitation. It’s interesting to me that the last two invites went to new hires, while the other maids can only wait and hope.

Ran Mao is strong, and she was willing to fight back if necessary, so it’s quite curious she didn’t return. Jane seemed dismissive; saying if he liked her that he might keep her several days. Could he have kept some of the other maids that supposedly left? Or could someone else be holding them?

All and all, it’s a short chapter that only barely moved the plot. On the plus side, I do like following Mey-Rin and Ran Mao as I like both of their characters.

[elisajdb]

Family Album: III

Son Family Week 2019: @sonfamilyweek

Goku Day (5/9)

Characters: Goku

Prompt: Memories

“It’s coming together nicely.” Chichi leaned on Goku as she stared at the dwindling box of photos. “I’m almost done.” She kissed Goku’s cheek. “Thank you for helping.”

 “It’s not just me.” Goku tilted his head to the kitchen. “Gohan helped, too.”

 Gohan returned to the room with a tray carrying a plate of onigiri and senbei, a hot pot of tea and three tea cups. Gohan carefully placed the tray on the floor. “That was Grandpa on the phone. Goten stopped by after school.” He poured a cup of tea for his parents while Goku grabbed an onigiri.

 Chichi took the cup of tea from her eldest son. “That’s why he’s not home yet.”

 “I told you he’s fine.” Goku munched on his onigiri. “Mmm! These rice balls are so good!”

 Gohan placed a tea cup next to his father. “Goten’s on his way. I reminded him we have dinner tonight.”

 “Good.” Chichi sipped her tea. “We should finish this before we leave.”

 Gohan sifted through the pictures while chewing on a senbei. “Did I take this picture?” Gohan turned the picture around so his parents could see. The shot of the picture implied whoever took it either sat on the floor or wasn’t very tall. Chichi’s legs were captured in front of the stove. There was a clear shot of Goku who did pushups on his hands. On the edges of the photo were fingers.

 “Looks like it.” Chichi laughed. “I think I had the camera out that day and you got your hands on it. It’s a good shot of Goku. Isn’t it, Goku?” She noticed Goku eating his third onigiri. “Oh, Goku,” Chichi drawled seeing bits of rice around Goku’s mouth. Chichi took a napkin and wiped Goku’s face. “Your Dad exercised in the kitchen a lot while I cooked and you did your schoolwork. Sunny days, rainy days, hot or cold, your Dad was always in the kitchen with us.” Chichi kissed him. “I miss those times.”

 “I don’t remember seeing these pictures, Mom.” Gohan handed a stack to Chichi. “These are when I was a baby.”

 Goku looked over Chichi’s shoulder as she looked through the photos. “I remember this one, Chichi.” In the photo, Goku held a one-year-old Gohan who kissed his cheek while Chichi and Gyu-Mao looked happily. “I haven’t seen it in years. It’s been in this box all this time?”

 “No.” Chichi spread out the stack of photos. “All of these were taken at Dad’s place. A few years ago he made copies and gave them to me.” One photo captured her eyes. She tapped it with her finger. “I had no idea Dad took this one. He said you didn’t notice him peeking from the door.”

 Goku picked up the photo, awed this moment in time was captured. “I didn’t know he took this either.”

 It was taken the day of Gohan’s birth. Chichi lied in bed asleep, exhausted. Goku sat in a chair besides Chichi’s bed holding baby Gohan. He stared at the new life that came into his hours ago. Seeing the photo brought Goku back to that special day. 

Evening arrived to a very long, emotional, and happy day. It was amazing to Goku how his life changed in a matter of hours. This morning he and Chichi spent an hour lying in bed, talking and relaxing. Most of the conversation was on the impending birth of their child. That morning, Chichi was all smiles rubbing her belly and feeling their son move. She gushed about wanting to see their child, hold him and kiss him. Goku remembered touching her stomach to feel the child’s Ki. He remembered pressing his ear to Chichi’s stomach to hear their son’s heartbeat. He felt it but he also felt a tiny kick against his face. The two were full of laughs and happiness as dreamt of the day their son will be born.

 Hours later, it wasn’t all smiles and laughs. There was worry and fear as Chichi went into labor. It all happened so quickly. Goku remembered his heart pounding fast and hard against his chest. It was threatening to burst as he rushed to Chichi’s side. Chichi didn’t look good; it was fear the labor could kill her. If he hadn’t given his Ki to help Chichi through the birth of their child, she would’ve died. Losing Grandpa was a crushing blow. If he lost Chichi, he wasn’t sure how he would cope.

 Chichi was alive now, sleeping while hooked to machines that quietly beeped as it monitored her heart and blood pressure. Chichi was out of the danger zone but her doctor still recommend she rest and take it easy until she fully recovered.

 Goku turned his attention to their son, Gohan. He slept in a small baby bed next to Chichi. Gohan raised his arms as if he’s stretching before dropping them and falling back asleep.  

 Goku gently picked up his child. Gohan didn’t stir as Goku carried him to a chair by the window. For several moments, Goku stared at the newborn. He looked a lot better now than hours ago. When he was born, Gohan was a wet, bloodied sloppy mess and his body was so wrinkled. He didn’t look like any baby Goku’s seen growing up. He did now and Goku was absolutely mesmerized. The tiny spikes in Gohan’s hair reminded Goku of his own. The tail wiggling to get free from the blanket made Goku’s heart soar with pride.

 He couldn’t believe it. He was a father. He was still getting used to being a husband. Now he was a husband and father.

 It was funny. People; strangers and even his own friends called him stupid and slow. Fighting was all they thought he could do. After failing to understand the difference between a pretty girl and ugly girl, his magazines and erotica books, Master Roshi thought of him incapable in understanding women or marrying one.

 At the time, Goku wasn’t interested in women. His focus was to be the strongest fighter in the world. Goku was certain Master Roshi and his friends still had those doubts of him and women when he left them to marry Chichi.

 I bet they’d think differently of me if they could see me now.

 In truth, Goku didn’t know what he was doing except honoring a promise and following his instincts. He had good instincts about Chichi and it paid off in their first year together. He fell in love; found someone he could truly let his guard down with and now they had a son together.

 “Gohan. Son Gohan,” Goku whispered to the baby. “Nice to meet you.” Gohan’s eyes slowly opened. “Hi. You’re finally awake. You like to sleep a lot, don’t ya?”

 Gohan whined as he looked around in wonder and confusion. The whine in his voice got higher as if he wanted to cry. “Don’t cry,” Goku told his son. “You’re safe with me and Mommy. Oh, you probably don’t understand but I’m Daddy. That’s Mommy,” Goku referred to the sleeping woman near them. “And you’re Gohan. Son Gohan. You’re our son.” Gohan’s eyes went up to the soft lights above them. Didn’t seem as if the child was listening to him. “Mommy’s really tired,” Goku kept talking, “and needs to sleep but she’s happy you’re here. I am, too.”

 Gohan wiggled his body. He raised his arms again with one touching Goku’s chin. “We’re gonna do a lot together on Mount Paouz. I’m gonna take ya fishin’ and campin’. I’m gonna teach ya how to fight like Grandpa did with me.” Gohan’s eyes focused on Goku again. Goku wondered if Gohan understood him. He and Chichi talked to Chichi’s stomach during her pregnancy. She said their voices will be a familiar comfort to their child when he is born.

 Gohan’s attention on him encouraged Goku to keep talking. “You’re named after my Grandpa. He found me in the woods and took really good care of me. I hope I can take care of you just as good.”

 “You’re gonna do great, Goku.”

 Goku turned his head. Chichi was awake. “How ya feeling?”

 “Tired,” Chichi admitted. “But better. Is Gohan awake?”

 Goku turned around so Chichi could see Gohan’s eyes were open. “I think he recognizes my voice.”

 “Has he been given a bottle of milk?”

Goku shook his head. “Gohan hasn’t eaten since you fed him. He keeps making a whiny noise.”

 Chichi sat up in bed. “He’s probably hungry. Get in bed with me.” Chichi opened her gown exposing her breasts to her husband and son. Goku handed Gohan to Chichi and carefully climbed in bed with them.

 Goku watched Chichi gently guide Gohan to her full breast. Just as he did the first time she fed him, baby Gohan grasp the nipple and suckled quickly. As Gohan fed himself, his tail slipped from his blanket and wrapped itself around Chichi’s arm. “He’s so perfect. Aren’t you, Gohan?”

 “Wild it was just the two of us this morning.”

 “Yeah,” Chichi agreed. “Now there are three of us.” Chichi’s warm eyes met Goku’s. “I want it to be this way for a very long time; just the three of us; maybe four or more,” she said hopeful.

 “I want that, too,” Goku admitted. For most of his life, it was just him. He had Grandpa for a brief time and he was very happy. Alone, he was happy but not as much as when he had Grandpa. Now he was recapturing that happiness again with Chichi in a whole new way. It will only get better with Gohan. What he was forming now with his wife and child, Goku realized it was something he wanted to keep for a very long time.

 Gohan gathered the empty dishes and carried them to the kitchen. Chichi finished adding the photos Gyu-Mao gave her to the album. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Goku smiling at her. It wasn’t his usual happy smile. There was something behind this one.

 “What’s that smile for, Goku?”

 “Just thinking. I remember how our family grew from two to three when Gohan was born.” Goku looked towards the kitchen. Gohan’s back was to them as he cleaned their dishes. Goku slid closer to Chichi. “It didn’t turn out the way we wanted but it was the three of us for a while.”

 Chichi wrapped her arms around Goku’s neck. “And now it’s four and I know it will be this way for a very long time.”

 “How do you know?”

 Chichi playfully tugged a spiky bang hanging over Goku’s forehead. “Because I’ll kill you if it’s not.”

 Just as their lips met in a kiss, the front door opened and Goten burst into the room. “Mom! Dad! I’m home!”

[tanaka-keiji]

Yuzuru Hanyu’s “wife” and Shoma Uno’s “big brother”

Yuzuru Hanyu’s “wife” and Shoma Uno’s “big brother”

Reporters and federation personnel comment on Keiji’s relationships with Shoma and Yuzuru in an article by women’s magazine “Prime”

03/06/2018

As Yuzuru Hanyu’s “wife” and Shoma Uno’s “big brother,” Keiji Tanaka has been supportive of both skaters

Yuzuru Hanyu achieved the first consecutive Olympic victory in 66 years. After an injury sustained in November of last year demanded a full-time recovery period, he had to pull off a winning performance at the last minute in Pyeongchang.

“His short program just blew off everyone’s concerns. Although he had flawed landings in the free skate, overall it was a performance where you couldn’t tell if he was injured. He got more cheers than anyone else, he was the center of the attention and his performance was the highlight. He showed he really is the ‘absolute king.’” ( – sports columnist)

As Nathan Chen, who had risen up as a worthy opponent, fell victim to the so-called “Olympic demon,” another Japanese ace, Shoma Uno was able to overcome his nerves.

“His short program was perfect. Then, up to the last moments of the free skate when he should have been feeling the most nervous, he landed all the combination jumps and captivated the audience.” ( – same sports columnist)

Third place in the SP Uno ended up beating second place Javier Fernandez in a sudden reversal. The world shook with excitement at the double-punch victory.

In the free skate, Keiji Tanaka recovered from his mistakes in the short program and was able to climb up the ranking.

“He hasn’t been able to land many quads in the big competitions, but he landed the opening quad salchow in the free skate, so that really showed his determination. His quads have been in good shape since he got here, so it’s too bad that he made mistakes when it came time to perform. But he got positive grades of execution on the other elements, so it was a beautiful performance.” ( – same sports columnist)

Compared to Uno and Hanyu, who are big stars, many may not think Tanaka has a strong presence, but he has actually been a big supporter of both skaters.

“They may be rivals in the competitions, but they are very good friends. They have a wonderful effect on each other. Off the ice, Tanaka is the one with the most common sense, so he takes on the role of supporting and taking care of the other two.” ( – skating federation staff member)

Tanaka’s now main practice rink is in the Hyogo prefecture nowadays, and he’s becoming a very good leader to the young skaters there.

Shoma sits on Keiji’s lap

“On days-off and such, he will take 2-3 younger skaters to a public bathhouse. He’s very good at taking care of them. At the end of last year, he went back to the rink in Kurashiki, his hometown, and that was around the same time that the Olympic representatives were announced. He was surrounded by little kids, so he seems to be very popular.” ( – same federation staff member)

Tanaka is not just popular with little kids, but he’s also like a big brother to Uno, who’s 3 years younger than him.

“When they were juniors, Uno-kun would stick to Tanaka-kun like glue, following him around everywhere. When they would share a room at away tournaments, Uno-kun was not used to those kinds of trips, so you’d even see Tanaka-kun teaching Uno-kun how to do laundry. Uno’s coach would be embarrassed, saying to him, “Sorry for hassling you all the time.” And Tanaka-kun would puff up his chest and say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” I think he was more like a reliable father than an older brother (laugh)” ( – sports writer)

At nights when they can’t go home after competing, they stay up playing Yu-gi-oh! card games. It seems the meeting place is almost always Tanaka Keiji’s hotel room.

“Tanaka likes to keep everything clean, and apparently he keeps his room very cozy and neat. (laugh). After the free skate at the 2016 Four Continents, Uno went over to Tanaka in the waiting room and just quietly sat on his lap. They showed that on TV. It really did look like a father and his son.” ( – previously mentioned sports columnist)

It appears that the main reason Tanaka feels compelled to take care of Uno is that he’s “an eccentric kid.”

“He likes skating too much – so much so that I don’t think he has any interest in anything else. He’s also rather child-like at times, like the fact that the only food he likes is meat and he only eats vegetable a few times a year.” ( – previously mentioned federation staff member)

Since Uno was called a prodigy from a very young age, it’s possible he has certain sensitivities ordinary people don’t have. Takahiro-san (?), an employee at the Nagoya sports center, remembers seeing Uno step onto the ice rink for the first time.

“It was when Shoma was 3 years old. At that age, usually they can only skate if they’re holding their parent’s hand. But he just immediately stepped onto the ice and started walking smoothly. I even went ‘Eh?!” in a loud voice. Because he wasn’t afraid of the ice at all.” ( – Takahiro-san)

The famous story is that Mao Asada also saw this and was enamored with Uno, saying, “You should start doing figure skating!”

“He was a child so he would cry when he made a mistake, but he would still keep doing his utmost. He was very competitive. When he finished kindergarten or elementary school, he would come over every day and skate until 6pm. After that, he started training with his own team. Even now when I see him practicing silently, it doesn’t look like he’s changed since then.” ( – Takahiro-san)

Being indifferent toward anything except his performance must be a consequence of the figure skating lifestyle. When he was asked about the Pyeonchang Olympics in the 2015 Four Continents, he said, “Is Pyeongchang in Korea?”

“It seems he really didn’t know. In the Grand Prix season, when he has a packed schedule filled with competitions one after the other, he’ll ask, ‘Where am I going next again?’” ( – previously mentioned skating federation staff member)

That is the kind of person whom an older brother figure like Tanaka can’t help looking after.

Playing the role of a wife

It’s not just the younger skater, Uno, who has come to rely on Tanaka, but also Hanyu, who is the same age. As three skaters of the same generation, Tanaka, Hanyu, and Hino Ryuju have been growing and developing alongside one another.

“When they were little, every competition was different and they kept swapping places at the podium. So they would all take turns being frustrated. The jumping practice was already a competition. I think it would be something like, ‘If that guy can do that jump, I have to do it, too!’ Even the jump that everyone struggles with – the triple axel – those three learned very quickly. I feel like when one spots the other at an event, they immediately go to each other. When they were high schoolers, they’d have an arm around each other’s shoulders. And with Tanaka-san being kind of tall, Hanyu-san would be tucked under his armpit.” ( – same skating federation staff member)

So, to an outsider, they’d look just like a couple. Hanyu has said about Tanaka, “To me, he is like a wife.” Apparently he meant that Tanaka is someone with whom he feels at ease.

When at Hanyu’s side…

“Just like his nickname ‘the absolute king’ would indicate, Hanyu-kun tends to be a hard person to approach. But he is a lot more talkative than you’d expect. Tanaka-kun is just the opposite – he’s the silent type. So, with Hanyu-kun usually doing the talking, Tanaka-kun is just going, “Yeah, yeah,” and “Really?” He mostly takes on the listener’s role. Hanyu-kun’s a very quick-thinking person, so the pace of the conversation tends to be quick as well. But since they’ve known each other so long, Tanaka-kun is not taken aback by how quickly he talks, and I think that must make Hanyu-kun feel at ease.” ( – sports writer)

Being different types actually seems to be the reason that they are comfortable around each other.

“Hanyu did not take part in the team competition, so he arrived at the arena after the others. At the official practice, where everyone from the press corps to the people from the rivals’ teams were all trying gauge what condition he was in after his injury, he was drawing a lot of attention. In that tense atmosphere, the one who was always at Hanyu’s side was Tanaka.” ( – previously mentioned sports columnist)

Maybe the fact that Hanyu did not bring his lucky item with him to Pyeongchang was part of his anxiety.

“The Pooh-san tissue box that he’s always holding was considered brand promotion, so it was not allowed. So he brought a ‘shortcake’ tissue box instead. Just seeing him with the Pooh-san box is a comfort. But I think that having a familiar face like Tanaka-san there by his side made him feel less helpless.” ( – previously mentioned skating federation staff member)

Having a helpful, reliable person like Tanaka watching out for them made it easier for Uno and Hanyu to display their maximum strength there.

“Of course, Hanyu and Uno are both skaters who each have plenty of their own strength. And it’s not like they have a combative relationship, but I think that for any competitor, there is a lot of tension in the atmosphere just before it’s time to perform. But because Tanaka was there, I think they were able to relax around each other.” ( – same skating federation staff member)

Of course, one assumes the presence of his two trusted friends also helped Tanaka to do his best at his current level. And there is no doubt that the great performances showed by them will serve to inspire the next generation of great male figure skaters.

“A long time ago, it was a rate of about 1 in 10 boys, now it’s about 1 in 5. Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka also made an impact a little while ago, and gradually this rate has been increasing, but I think Uno-kun is also having a great effect.” ( – Takahiro-san)

It’s possible the day will come when Uno will also show the same kind of affection to a junior he was showed by a senior like Tanaka. The “little brothers” who achieved great results must surely feel the effects.

http://www.jprime.jp/articles/-/11716

TN: The “sports writer,” “sports columnist” and “federation staff member” are all quoted anonymously.

[davidjjohnston3]

Facebook Insomnia 7.25.2021 1. I am still sad to conceptualize life in terms of fiction and the condition of fiction rather than Christianity undivided.   Today I had a lot of images of Japan in my mind.  I heard the phrase 'Japanese Breakfast' which is the rock-star name of the author of 'Crying at H-Mart' a famous book. I remembered someone who once dated someone who became my enemy. This person I respected I now realize and I am happy that I didn't say anything excessively stupid that would have implied I look down on her, saw her as easy, saw her as 'material to work on,' someone to have a plan for etc.   I asked her once for help getting someone to interview at Deloitte for consulting only this person was in Accounting. I never really saw this person as in my league or anything to me except as a 'Curriculum Developer' I guess I outranked her and so wasn't shy of talking to / with her in official functions.   Later we drank together and I said a few random things like that I stress- / binge-eat apples, like 5 apples a night. My friend once did a funny imitation of her that in retrospect sounded a little like my Taiwanese ex-girlfriend's imitation of Kaori Mochida from Every Little Thing; the funny thing I now realize is that he too had lingering affection for her despite everything.  I feel he became anti-Korean racist and I don't know where he is now but in retrospect he definitely never crossed a line with her that I know of except for asking questions I would never ask.  He called her by her Asian name which was something I never did in those days feeling it pretentious.   'The mysterious maiden of the Moon...' - It's a line from Yi Kwangsu's 'The Soil' in which a married man is comparing his wife with someone else like his former student.  In good Korean custom since his former student once had a puppy-crush on him and gave him some corn, when her husband finds out, he kicks her to death in her pregnant stomach and this is why I oppose many things in principle such as tribalism, marriage, and for all intent and purposes the nuclear family. Yi Kwangsu is a problematic figure and as a Christian or aspiring Christian / 'Christianist' I don't recommend it.  It has incredibly exquisite descriptions of women that could make you brain-dead.  Yi Kwangsu also supposed Japan's occupation of Korea so that to this day talking about Yi Kwangsu can get you crucified.   I also seem to recall something like '_ _-ya, you got run over by a train you one-legged prostitute; now you have to love your husband even more.'  But I don't remember the context. Ironically or not 'The Soil' is the title of a Knut Hamsun novel the author of which supported Hitler; I do not.   I wonder where she is now. This person got shot at a lot and I regret adding to her burdens with my sin-eater-type confessions or just shooting my mouth off when stuff happened.  I had a crush on someone else and started saying I was sad I lost my virginity in college; IDK why I said anything. This person also had high alcohol-tolerance - extremely high for a female Asian - and although I could also drink a lot I always did bad self-destructive things. In the Middle Ages one form of 'trial by ordeal' was to reach your hand in to boiling water to pull out a pearl and if the boiled skin healed well you were exonerated or sth.   She must be 'somebody's everything; my impossible girl.'  IDK why she talked to me and I made fun of her and all my fictionalized versions of her and theories of her were derogations.   Like me she played the piano. She once said '_ _ is popular' which was a burn I appreciate since I'm anti-popularity and anti-personality-cults. She went to a school part of which is Victoria College where a literary critic I admire(d) taught for many years. I am stuck in America, hounded by Satan through the personages of my Maoist biological family and 'family tree' of America torn between past and future, un-death and life; due in large part to my excessive tendency to defend myself, to lash out, to wash my hands on the outside without cleaning my 'interior mentality' to paraphrase the 'Da Xue,' or to blaspheme the Spirit in some respects, I feel. I regret talking about her and at the same time why would I talk about lesser maidens? IDK what her favorite piano-piece was as I never endeavored to enage her in discourse about art or aesthetics given she is not a 'kisaeng' or 'geisha' and I am not a museum-curator or whatever.  Other people would be like 'Oh!  You lke the Grande Valse Brilliante; I know you spent the summer of 2003 teaching yourself repeat-notes.'   Everyone wants to drag everyone in to their mud or graves these days.  Am reminded of Endo Shusaku's 'Silence' about why Jesuits would apostasize in medieval Japan.  His conclusion was that the 'swamp of Japan' was too full of sensualism, the Portuguese Jesuit wanted a Japanese mistress or wife.  I once yelled 'swamp f-ggot' at someone due to their tendency to emotionalize and 'contextualize' everything which was an underhanded way of trying to make me change my sex as well.  In an effort to mitigate some of the tempting evil pornographic things I said about KR over the years I said a few more but this is a person, whose name means 'Pearl' as in 'the pearl of great price for which oe sold everything else.'  It is said that AAPI Twitter, America, house-slave Am-Kor own-goal Korean self-exploitation honor-killing squadsters, etc. want to these people in the trash. I found my Gideon Kor-Eng NT Psalms with the 'victory song' that sounds like Mandarin in its Revelation, that I had worried I'd lost.  That might be the 'most grateful' thing that 'happened.' I also remembered what my Mandarin name used to be though I had many in different classes I took. I was going to say many things, but in the end: the mystery of Charity.

*

I never considered the full implications of socialism or mental socialism till today.  I assumed that it was valid mitigation.  Some are born rich, some are born poor, it's wrong to let the latter starve on principle alone.   I don't even know how to say this.  I remember during the Iraq War being struck by how much the government - like my mom - was asking outsiders for advice about how to fight.  Dick Cheney got in trouble.  Years later I was skeptical of the F-35 because a lot of idiots with no skin in the game wanted to build it here or there. Wisconsin wanted to build the 'Littoral Combat Ship' which who cares. It made people worse and worse. The only thing is, the CCP - who ultimately serve I dare not even say whom, but clearly not the ghosts of Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin or perhaps even Mao Zedong - figured out awesome killer ways to troll Republicans like Scott Walker w/ their 'FoxConn Fallujah hokey-pokey' whereby they got an avowed capitalist to promise socialists something that actually came from-post-hyper-anti-socialist hyper-capitalists with a plan to kill all white people or something. My father used to talk about the University of Chicago School of Economics all the time and it made me sulkily ask myself why 'Poor Dad' is talking so much about stuff that supposedly makes people billionaires while Jacob's English major dad is Bloomberg's 'chief of staff.'   I say again it's just like Biden saying all the right stuff, 'knee on the neck of the American soul, bone of our bone, winter of peril, hey dumbfuck, articulate, they're killing people.' Writing grant-proposals to the government to fund private research in to brain-injury that is itself applied by the government to veterans sent to get brain-damaged by a government that said good things and did retarded things based on their readings of the good things they said a bit like Karenin in 'Anna Karenina.'   I remember when George W. Bush said 'I'm the decider.'  I once told my dad to get out of my face so he got really sloshed up and vapored, 'I'm in your face!'  I'm not even saying that to defame someone but welcome to reality. Every so often every male seems to try to man up then they defend themselves like, 'No that is not the way in which I meant that I was manning up.'  You could call this 'self-draft-dodging.' It's ancient history but if I had been wiser I would have tried to predict the future for myself rather than visualize it as an abstract spectatorial notion.  At day's end mental socialists can literally not understand why it is wrong to steal.  Stealing is compulsory under socialism - I again come back to 'Pearl' since her ex-suitor and I used to reflect on how Korean collectivism drove people into themselves.  Similarly mental socialists cannot but hoard 'capabilities' so that in the end they'll falsify anything, steal anything; the only limit I guess is living with themselves.

I keep giving myself to fantasy and coping of all kinds like a 'mental Changrae Lee novel, mental David Guterson novel,' or ultimately Vergil (Virgil).  There has to be a new music, a new dream, something, a new city, though it is odd to think about pre-Christian times and a legend of what came before Rome in a Christian moment amid realignment in 'late Roman history.' My favorite YAL book still perhaps is 'The Giver' since it deals with the uses of history, with abortion, and with escape or exile.   I was going to say a while back something about 'Light in August' which relates to escape - as well to complacence - and to interracial relationships, pregnancy, the right to live.  I was in Minneapolis but mind was on Japan, on all these swords, not the Olympics but histories of swords and strange armor, halberds.  There was a huge sword called a 'field sword' in translation. I don't even want to see these people again; I sincerely pray the Japanese Prime Minister, the men and women of their armed forces, Tokyo's apparently amazing counter-terrorism and response capabilities for NBC / WMD / etc. attacks since the Aum Shinrikyo Sarin subway attacks and maybe their counter-nuclear or ability to respond after a nuclear blast will be enough.  People in America are trying to live by a little of the old, a little of the new, but it seems utterly impossible. When people abuse me I get really dreamy.  I read Virgil in high school; I was thinking of 'post-Covid YAL' or so in which people are just on the run, harrowing themselves, not even nostalgic for Babylon or anything in it.  It is almost like 'the meaning of the soul.'  I realized that in addition to new churches and new government laws Covid will engender new birth-defects and there will have to be new medicine.  Japan is a country that I said bad things about especially when in Korea but she never did anything bad to me - I remember playing 'Final Fantasy' and thinking someone out there loves me; they made an investment in children worldwide.  The only thing is I'm too old for such adventures and I fall apart quickly. All these birds in Japan, colors of red - people get obsessed with the Otherness of Japan and want to abnegate Belial-like (a demon or fallen angel of sensualism, to my understanding).  

I took so many notes and voice-notes yesterday that I devoutly hope my visions will pass to someone.  The future is going to be so beautiful for somebody but I have lost so much faith in my ability to mitigate or restrain evil.  Those who I had thought were simply stupid but were diabolically opposed to my existence - whom I did not wish to understand and whom I had 'fancied' I could placate or appease through offerings - turned out to be radically evil, unconditionally evil.  I feel that my father (biological) would steal my soul if he could; would eat it in a way.  My mom is always sitting on the porch and gives a look of hope like I could change her mind but it'll never happen.  I want to kill myself; I think things worldwide will get worse before they get better; I don't trust Biden or anyone who says the right things without showing exactly what they are doing.  Christians seem so petty sometimes like melanin, hairy legs, in Japan this therefore that, Native American Indian manhood rituals.   I just want to know which pastor has the 'batting average' I can believe in but it has to be John MacArthur doesn't it?  

[fandomlife-giver]

His Maid, On Ice: 2

Summary: When you live as long as I, it’s important to not let the past and useless details choke your existence. Even if it may appear inescapable, and those within it appear again.

Pairings: Eventual Sebastian x Demon!reader

@wintersdoll

Warnings: Violence

Word Count: 3484

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Oh Satan....

It's him.. I knew I should've disposed of him when I had the chance.

You looked away from the Viscount and focused your gaze on Ciel as he pondered to himself.

"They're holding some contest? Why is he a judge?" He questioned while everyone except you stared at the angry group of people before you, the Viscount being one of them, though he was too busy admiring the white roses.

"Yes. Wasn't he just arrested for human trafficking? What a naughty man." Lau said from beside you.

You looked down when you noticed Sebastian had moved closer to you, to wear your sides were touching. Your eyebrow twitched and you were about to point it out, but froze when you felt an arm wrap around your waist and pull you, making you mold into a firm chest.

You looked to your right, seeing Undertaker with a smile on his face, his attention on Abberline when he responded. "He was released a few days ago." Abberline said with a scowl.

Ciel frowned. "Must have paid well."

Abberline stepped forward until he was before the mayor. "Excuse me, but this statue is now under the charge of Scotland Yard."

Unfortunately, the Mayor didn't seem very happy to cooperate. "Oh, no! I don't care if you are from Scotland Yard, sir! The frost fair is an event for our citizens. I will not let you disrupt it!"

"Just look at her beauty. Such an exquisitely noble lady. We could never allow her to be violated by anybody." Lord Druitt said as he hugged himself.

Your eyes narrowed at him. "You're certainly one to talk."

The viscount looked back, his eyes locking with yours as he smirked. "If you insist on possessing this lady, you should offer something of equal beauty."

"A well-spoken pronouncement from a true lover of art and beauty! As he says, if you want this statue, win the contest!" The mayor exclaimed.

"There's merit to your argument. The ring belongs to whomever is the winner of the contest. Nice and simple." Ciel agreed.

Abberline looked back at him. "Really, Ciel?"

Ciel looked up at him. "Don't worry, Inspector, I'll get the ring."

Abberline gritted his teeth. "But it's stolen property! Not to mention the fact that it's our key evidence in serial kidnappings of young girl—Ah!" He covered his mother with his eyes wide in realization of what he just revealed.

Ciel smiled. "I see, that's why the Yard is frantic to find it."

Abberline went back to frowning. "The legend is true; every person who has owned the ring has met a horrible end! It's a cursed stone, and you still try to win it?"

This only made Ciel's smile turn into a smirk. "Cursed, eh?" He looked down at his father's ring. "Then it sounds like the perfect ring for me."

Undertaker walked forward, which only made you be pulled forward with him as he now placed his arm lazily over your shoulders. "Come to think of it, isn't that family ring you wear set with a pretty blue stone as well, lord?"

Ciel looked up at him. "Yes."

Undertaker smiled. "Perhaps you should be careful. Diamonds are quite hard. Because they're hard, they're also... brittle. If you go too far, you may be shattered as well."

"I'm not concerned." He said before smiling as he raised his thumb to his face to gaze upon his ring. "My body, along with my family ring—" He kissed the diamond, then looked back at Undertaker. "—both have already been shattered and then reborn. I've been through too much to worry about that anymore." You felt your lips turn upwards into a smile by what he said and by glancing at Sebastian, it made his face contort as well.

You looked down at Ciel when he turned around and looked at you and Sebastian. "Win the contest, that's an order!"

Undertaker removed his arm and stepped back as you and Sebastian put your hands over your heart and stomach. "Indeed, young master."

. . .

Hmm, 547.

There were currently 547 people gathered at the foot of the stage you now stood on beside Sebastian amongst the other contestants. You both had fake smiles acting upon false happiness, but what was their excuse? Why do they care about a contest about carving blocks of ice? Does this entertain them?

These were the thoughts that ran through your mind behind the smile on your face as the announcer spoke. "Welcome one and all to the Thames Frost Fair! Now it is time for the traditional ice sculpture contest! You have until 3 p.m. All right. You may begin sculpting!"

Your smile widened. Perhaps this will be entertaining. And there is an interesting topic you would like to base this icy project on.

. . .

*bong* *bong* *bong* The clock rang out as it struck 3. "And now folks, the judging shall commence!"

You glanced around the stage, seeing the men all out of breath as they held up their tools, then at Sebastian, who kept his eyes locked on the audience.

That certainly shows our masculine men of London.

‘It's at least one attractive quality Sebastian bares that no other man does.’

Your eyes widened at your own thoughts. ‘Attractive? Why in the bloody hell would I even think of that word, let alone include Sebastian?’

You closed your eyes in an attempt to block out such vulgar thoughts. ‘What is wrong with you? Focus!’

Flashback...

"Has any other demon ever been so committed towards you? Has your beloved king ever shown such concern?"

You silently growled under your breath. "Shut up."

Sebastian was the only one to hear you and looked at you from the corner of his eye, but you avoided his gaze.

‘Lucifer, why must you do this to me?’

"First up, we have Scotland Yard and Its Merry Men, with their sculpture, "Guardian of London"!" All eyes went to the life size ice sculpture of Sir Arthur, that Abberline and another officer were saluting to, as if it were actually him.

The table of judges frowned at it, including the viscount at the end who shook his head. "Judges' scores!" They all held up their scores. "One, two, one, one, zero! For a total of five points!" You looked back at the sculpture, to see Arthur's head fall off.

"Next team, whose name is All Women's Dresses Should Be Tiny... And their entry!"

A few women gasped as children's eyes were covered from the ice sculpture of a naked Ran Mao, that's womanly parts were being censored by two white sheets, that two blushing men were holding.

You glanced at it with a raised eyebrow.

I mean, did they really have to go into detail? And for hell's sake, carved at least a dress on her!

"For obvious reasons, this ice sculpture has been disqualified."

Lau smiled and tilted his head. "But why?" He asked this while Ran Mao stood beside him, doing the same pose as the sculpture.

"How could you possibly think that was proper to display?!" Ciel snapped at him.

His smile dropped. "You know, when they hide bits like that I think it only makes it more erotic..."

The judges all held up X's, except for Lord Druitt, who held up a 10. Of course, it's not like you expected anything else.

Your gaze dropped to Ciel as he leaned closer into you and Sebastian. "Win this. You can, right?"

You chuckled. "Of course we can."

Without looking at him, Sebastian added on. "You explicitly ordered us to do so, and we exist only to fulfill your orders, my lord."

"And next, from the team known as Queen's Puppy, we have "The Ark of Noah"!"

A large sheet was dropped, revealing a large life size ice replica of Noah's Ark. You heard a chair scrape and looked back at the viscount as he marveled at it.

"What a sculpture! I've never seen it's like! That is art in its highest form!" The mayor exclaimed.

"An amazing piece! Let's see the total scores." The announcer said as he turned to the judges, until your hand shot up.

"One moment." He looked back down at you. "My apologies, but you haven't seen all of the sculpture yet." You looked to Sebastian as he walked over to it and snapped his fingers.

The Ark's roof cracked down the middle and fell apart, revealing 3D sculptures of various animals atop the Ark.

"Wow! They look like living animals!" You heard a man say amongst the audience that stared at it in awe.

"Brilliant! They deliberately made the seam of the roof weak so it would melt and fall apart in time!" The mayor shouted.

"Ah! Ahh! Our ancestor, the brave man who stood fearlessly against the flood of God's wrath: Noah! He is depicted here with his wife and child and the pairs of animals he was ordered to rescue, awaiting rebirth from the sea." The viscount dramatically said in a love-like trance.

"Astounding work, young man and young lady! It's high art! I declare the both of you ice sculptors of the highest caliber." The mayor announced.

You both looked up at him. "No, sir. You're too kind. We are simply one hell of a maid and butler." Sebastian said as he placed his hand on his heart.

"Is everyone ready for the final scores?"

"Hold it right there!" You all looked over at the queen’s ice sculpture where a man stood, pointing a gun towards the audience. "Hate to break up the party, but this ring is ours. We're taking what belongs to us."

"Hold on. That means you're the..." Abberline drifted off as the man smirked.

"That's right. We're the team of thieves all of London's been talking about. Maybe you'll recognize these." He pulled back his coat to reveal several sticks of dynamite strapped to his abdomen.

You rose an eyebrow. "Well that is very idiotic. I believe that is taking the term 'self destructive' to a more literal meaning than necessary."

Behind him, two other men knocked over a barrel, more sticks of dynamite spilling from it. The man grinned and held up a lighter, flicking on the flame. "You have ten seconds! Anyone who doesn't want to die should get the hell out of here."

"Ten!" The entire crowd of people ran from the area, all except Abberline, Ciel, and his faithful hellish servants.

You gave a closed eyed smile. "Well, this was certainly a dramatic turn of events, wasn't it?"

"Master." Sebastian called.

"Nine!"

"My orders remain the same. Do it now." Ciel ordered.

You both smiled and bowed. "Indeed, young master." You said, before you both disappeared from sight.

"Eight!"

Abberline looked back, seeing Ciel still standing there alone. "What are you doing?! Hurry up, we need to get out of here!"

"Seven!"

Ciel looked back at him. "You can go if you want to. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Six!"

Abberline gritted his teeth. "I can't leave you here!" Ciel looked back at him in surprise. "I joined Scotland Yard to protect our citizens!"

"Five!"

"That includes noblemen like you, Ciel!" He yelled, before he began to run towards Ciel.

"Four!"

Ciel smirked as he watched him. "What a fool."

He nearly got close to the man at the statue, before the man shot at his feet, stopping him. "Stay back, Inspector." The man turned to Ciel with his gun now to him. "You only have three seconds left. A sweet little boy like you, shouldn't you be running away?"

Ciel only stared at him. "I see no need for that. Look behind you."

His eyes widened, right before the gun was knocked out of his hand by Sebastian, who had jumped over him and kicked it with his ice skates. "What the?!"

Sebastian landed on the ice and skated around the statue as the men fired their guns at him. He jumped up and did a quadruple spin mid air.

"Impossible! He spun four whole times in the air!" The mayor exclaimed.

"A noble swan flying through a world of silvery-white snow! Lured by that devilish smile, the maiden is enfolded in his midnight black wings." Ciel visibly shuddered from the viscount's words.

As Sebastian skated by the Judge's table and knocked out the two men who had been shooting at him, the judges held up their scores. "Ten, ten, ten, ten, ten! That's it, a perfect score!"

Ciel was now smirking at the man, who was pulling out a dynamite stick and lit his lighter. "Damn you... little brat! I'm gonna blow you away!" Ciel's smirked dropped as the lit dynamite was hurled towards him.

But, before it landed, he was swept away by you as you held him above your head with one arm and skated away with a smile.

The man shielded his eyes as the stick landed and the ice exploded. "Another one?! I hate these people!" He angrily said as he lit several dynamite sticks and threw them towards you, but you managed to gracefully skate away from them, leaving a trail of explosions behind you.

"Please, Boss, stop doing that! Have you forgotten?! Look down! We're standing on top of ice!" His men said as they looked upon the now cracked ice that would break any second.

Haha. Idiot.

Ciel gasped and looked down at you as you continued to hold him up. "Y/N!"

You dropped your hand and grabbed onto his arms, swinging him around a few times, before letting go. He shrieked as he soared through the air, all while you gave him an amused smile as Sebastian caught him from where he stood.

The ice atop the river cracked, sending the thieves below the freezing depths, leaving a foggy cloud of ice.

Abberline looked upon the fog, but couldn't spot anything or anyone. "Where is he?" He questioned.

Lau smiled as he stood next to him. "My lord is stubborn as ever."

Abberline's eyes widened as the shadow of the Noah's Ark sculpture cane into view, with Ciel on top of it and his Maid and Butler standing behind him.

Lord Druitt outstretched his arms. "The ship sails on, leaving human despair behind! The ship sails on, carrying the future of the world! The ship sails on, despite the raging flood of icy waters seeking to drown it! ♪ The ship sails on! ♪"

Tears pricked the mayor's eyes as he stared at it. "It's the Ark! Truly a recreation of Noah's Ark! We've seen a miracle on the Thames!"

Ciel looked back at you with a frown. "Was tossing me about like that really necessary?"

You smiled. "My apologies, sir. But we did have an audience after all. I thought it might add a bit of a flair to the show."

His eye twitched, before he averted his gaze down at the river, where the queen ice sculpture was sinking, and the hope peace still on her finger. "The Hope Diamond will sleep safely at the bottom of the Thames...Not a bad end."

"But won't it curse all of London now?" Sebastian questioned.

"Somehow I doubt that will happen. Besides, if a ring can destroy the city, it wasn't meant to survive." He looked at his ring.

"After all, we Phantomhives have lived on..." He looked across the river at Abberline, who was kneeling down, helping one of the thieves out of the water.

"Grab my hand, I've got you!" He said as he reached out to him.

"Tell me something, Y/N." Ciel began as he watched him. "Earlier, you had accused Noah of being arrogant, but he was only trying to save a few. Wouldn't the desire to protect everyone be even more arrogant?"

You thought for a second, then looked ahead at Abberline. "Yes, it would seem so."

A small smile curved at Ciel's lips. "Ah well, an arrogant fool like that every now and then might not be so bad."

Once Abberline had pulled the bandits from the water, he looked up and stared at Ciel and his servants as they stood atop the sculpture. "Ciel... Who exactly are you?"

. . .

*sigh* ‘What am I doing? My work here is complete, so why? Why am I still here?’

You stared at the blood red ring upon your finger as your other naked hand mindlessly scraped against the roof of the manor. You started to think back to what Sebastian said on your first night with him...

Flashback...

He leaned down to your ear. "That is because they took place in his kingdom, but here you are vulnerable. Unlike all others, I will succeed, it is only a matter of time." He whispered.

‘He was right. Here, there are no guards, no king to have his hold on me. Damn you...why? Why did you make me come back? You bastard! Why?!’

You clenched your fist and looked away, down from where you were crouched, you glanced at the balcony of Ciel's study, where he sat at his desk with his chin his hand.

Flashback...

He sighed. "I would very much like if you would keep this from Ciel, not only as my servant, but as my friend. Please...will you do me this one favor... as my friend?"'

‘Oh... That's why.’ You laughed to yourself. "You really were full of surprises, weren't you master? To think you would go as far as to ask a demon from hell for a favor..."

You continued to watch Ciel, until he stood up and walked out of your view, the room's light going out a few seconds after.

You looked back at your ring and sighed as you closed your eyes.

‘Vincent...look what you've done to me.’

Silence filled the area, and for once you felt...relaxed.

♪Ooh Death Whooooah death, Won't you spare me over 'til another year?♪

Your eyes snapped open as you felt the wind pick up. The trees began to lean as a familiar tune rang out in the air.

♪Well what is this that I cant see, With ice cold hands taking hold of me♪

You immediately stood up and stared off in the distance, seeing a dark figure fly past the trees. Your eyes narrowed as you jumped off the roof and landed beside the fountain. You then proceeded to run into the woods.

♪Well I am death none can excel, I'll open the door to heaven or hell,  Whoa death someone would pray, Could you wait to call me another day♪

You followed after the figure that moved in a flash from tree to tree, it's voice growing louder as it rang in your ears.

♪The children prayed the preacher preached, Time and mercy is out of your reach, I'll fix your feet so you can't walk, I'll lock your jaw so you can't talk♪

You watched as the figure jumped up and disappeared into a large tree. Though it was dark, the rustling that sounded when you stopped below it was a dead giveaway.

♪I'll close your eyes so you cant see, This very hour come and go with me, Death I come to take the soul, Leave the body and leave it cold♪

A hissing sound from behind you made you turn around to see a snake slither down a tree and slowly make it's way to where it was inches from your face.

♪To drop the flesh up off the frame, Dirt and worm both have a claim♪

As it got closer, it's jaws began to open, with it's long, sharp fangs come closer and closer.

♪Oh death Whooooah death, Won't you spare me over 'til a another year?♪

You turned away from the snake with a small sigh and looked up into the tree the figure now stood in.

"Must you honestly disturb me from my work, especially at this ungodly hour?" It's sultry laugh only made you frown.

"Godly hour? You speak of god? Now is that any way to talk, Felis?" It jumped down from the tree and landed inches from you.

You watched as she slowly rose up, not caring how close she was and stared at you with her piercing violet eyes, her hot pink hair tickling your skin.

You showed no emotion whatsoever. "It's been quite a long time, hasn't it? Hello once again, Azah."

Her lips pulled back into a wicked grin, displaying her sharp pointed fangs. "Hello...sister."

[dragnews]

Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer?

BEIJING — She entered the world of an ancient empire as a teenage concubine, chosen by the emperor to share his bed for her good looks, immaculate comportment and, above all, her ability to sing.

The male-dominated court was a swirl of intrigue, forced suicides and poisonings. Eunuchs assigned to the emperor prepared her for sex with the ruler, undressing her and carrying her to his bed. After the Emperor Xianfeng’s death, she governed in the name of young male heirs — from behind a screen.

Perhaps as an escape from these oppressive restrictions, Empress Dowager Cixi (pronounced TSIH-shee), the de facto ruler of China in the final decades of the imperial dynasty, rebuilt a fantastic wonderland, the Summer Palace. It’s an extended estate of glittery lakes, luxurious gardens and elaborate wooden pavilions on the edge of the nation’s capital, attracting up to 100,000 visitors a day.

Most of them are curious Chinese from across the country who read in their Communist Party-authorized school books that Cixi was a harridan who stole the nation’s wealth and was responsible for China’s humiliating defeat by the Japanese in 1895.

But was she? Cixi, a peer of Queen Victoria’s and apparently iron-willed, has invited revisionist interpretations that view her as a feminist, at least in the context of the late 19th century, when women in China were treated little better than spittoons.

Strong women in China are often portrayed as power-hungry, and sometimes irrational, and are notably absent from the highest ranks of government. There is no Hillary Clinton figure in contemporary China (the real Mrs. Clinton is vilified by the government for talking about human rights in the country), or an Angela Merkel, who has stood up to China on trade.

When Bo Xilai, a rival to the current ruler Xi Jinping, was put on trial for corruption, he described his wife as “insane” in an effort to lessen his sentence.

So harking back to the pre-communist era for a feminist trailblazer makes sense. And to search for feminist ideals in a woman who ruled for nearly 50 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908, is understandable.

But the case of Cixi — who was isolated, undereducated and never made a break for personal freedom — is a hard argument to make.

A Chinese historian, Jung Chang, began the re-evaluation of Cixi with her biography, “Empress Dowager Cixi.” Ms. Chang, who lives in exile, argues the empress brought medieval China into the modern age, calling her an “amazing stateswoman.”

But Ms. Chang’s damn-the-man portrait of Cixi is a tad too generous even for some sympathizers. How could the empress dowager have ushered in groundbreaking innovation when much of her career was devoted to her drive to preserve the imperial family that crumbled three years after her death?

And Cixi did undermine a bold reform program begun by her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu, who favored a constitutional monarchy, not an absolute one. She then supported the Boxer rebellion, an anti-foreign, anti-Christian uprising that cost China dearly, a move she later blamed on her bossy male advisers.

A Chinese scholar, Zhang Hongjie, recently took up the cause of the empress in a sympathetic essay, “Woman Cixi,” featured in an anthology about Chinese women and men who have struggled against the odds.

He argued that she was held back by her lack of education, a given at the time because she was a woman, and that she should be given credit for trying to make amends for her mistakes at the end of her rule. But Mr. Zhang said his positive portrait made little impact.

“Cixi is still a negative character,” he said.

Her endeavors to preserve the imperial family above all else make for comparisons with Michael Corleone, the fictional Mafia boss.

“She had one of the most ruthless, savvy political minds, she was like a gangster,” said Jeremiah Jenne, a historian who leads visitors on walking tours around the Summer Palace, where he points out 500-year-old juniper and cypress trees, and paint-faded pavilions like the Hall for Dispelling Clouds, which was renovated in 1895 for her 60th birthday extravaganza.

Cixi had the Summer Palace rebuilt after an invading European army looted and burned the original, which, with its jewel-encrusted furniture and over-the-top silks, was said to be on par with Versailles.

Her reconstruction was not quite as opulent, but it was a sumptuous personal pleasure ground, intended to signify the strength of the family and its immense retinue of courtiers.

Despite the scholarly ruminations about Cixi, many Chinese tourists seem more interested in her extravagant lifestyle and come to see what is left of the loot, much faded because of neglect by the Communist Party’s cultural administrators.

A favorite is the “marble boat,” officially known as the Boat of Purity and Ease, a two-story wooden pavilion with wide verandas built into the side of the lakeshore and painted to resemble pale marble.

The official school curriculum says Cixi stole funds from the imperial Navy to renovate the boat just two years before the outbreak of war with the Japanese. Because of her thievery, the textbooks say, China lost the naval battles against Japan in 1894.

Crowds, shoulder-to-shoulder on a recent spring day, pressed against the lakeside rail, taking selfies framed by the newly green willow trees that dipped into the water.

“She had an expensive lifestyle, and China had one disaster after another,” said a middle-aged primary schoolteacher, who identified herself as Ms. Ye. She said she had no sympathy for Cixi.

“When you are backward as China was then, people will take advantage of you,” she said.

In the gift shops, there are no images of Cixi, just a few pieces of pink silk emblazoned with her calligraphy, sold as wall hangings. Commemorative coins with the portrait of Mao Zedong, cheap bangles, tea sets and hand fans do a brisker trade.

“No one likes her,” one of the young saleswomen said. “In history she is bad. Who would buy souvenirs of Cixi?”

Young Chinese tourists showed more sympathy.

“As a woman, she couldn’t make decisions in politics like the men,” said Xiao Yangchuan, 18, a first-year university student. “I think we should see her as a real person. She has her own flaws, and we should understand her era,” she said.

In the last decade of her life, the empress dowager tried to polish her image by making herself more accessible, especially to Western diplomats. But in the end, she could barely overcome the impression that, like many royals in the West, she was most interested in her dogs, gardening and fancy clothing, wrote Sterling Seagrave in his empathetic biography, “Dragon Lady.”

Pictures of her are banished to a pavilion near the exit of the palace grounds, where a large sepia photo shows her, surrounded by ladies in waiting, dressed in an embroidered gown with pearls said to be the size of canary eggs, and long talon-like finger nails.

The day before she died, the young emperor, Guangxu, was found dead — of natural causes, imperial records show. In 2008, Chinese medical investigators found extraordinarily high levels of arsenic in his remains, leading to a popular conclusion that the Empress had killed him to try to stop him from introducing political reforms after her own death.

Did she do it? “I am going with Cixi,” said Mr. Jenne, the historian.

In her final years, she was known as the “old Buddha,” a term that friendly biographers say was a term of endearment. Others see it as an appropriately scornful term for a woman who was barely literate, left little for other women to emulate and led the bankrupt Qing dynasty to its downfall in a country whose government remains as male-dominated as ever.

Follow Jane Perlez on Twitter: @JanePerlez.

Elsie Chen and Karoline Kan contributed research in Beijing.

The post Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer? appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2NEXUDG via Today News

[cleopatrarps]

Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer?

BEIJING — She entered the world of an ancient empire as a teenage concubine, chosen by the emperor to share his bed for her good looks, immaculate comportment and, above all, her ability to sing.

The male-dominated court was a swirl of intrigue, forced suicides and poisonings. Eunuchs assigned to the emperor prepared her for sex with the ruler, undressing her and carrying her to his bed. After the Emperor Xianfeng’s death, she governed in the name of young male heirs — from behind a screen.

Perhaps as an escape from these oppressive restrictions, Empress Dowager Cixi (pronounced TSIH-shee), the de facto ruler of China in the final decades of the imperial dynasty, rebuilt a fantastic wonderland, the Summer Palace. It’s an extended estate of glittery lakes, luxurious gardens and elaborate wooden pavilions on the edge of the nation’s capital, attracting up to 100,000 visitors a day.

Most of them are curious Chinese from across the country who read in their Communist Party-authorized school books that Cixi was a harridan who stole the nation’s wealth and was responsible for China’s humiliating defeat by the Japanese in 1895.

But was she? Cixi, a peer of Queen Victoria’s and apparently iron-willed, has invited revisionist interpretations that view her as a feminist, at least in the context of the late 19th century, when women in China were treated little better than spittoons.

Strong women in China are often portrayed as power-hungry, and sometimes irrational, and are notably absent from the highest ranks of government. There is no Hillary Clinton figure in contemporary China (the real Mrs. Clinton is vilified by the government for talking about human rights in the country), or an Angela Merkel, who has stood up to China on trade.

When Bo Xilai, a rival to the current ruler Xi Jinping, was put on trial for corruption, he described his wife as “insane” in an effort to lessen his sentence.

So harking back to the pre-communist era for a feminist trailblazer makes sense. And to search for feminist ideals in a woman who ruled for nearly 50 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908, is understandable.

But the case of Cixi — who was isolated, undereducated and never made a break for personal freedom — is a hard argument to make.

A Chinese historian, Jung Chang, began the re-evaluation of Cixi with her biography, “Empress Dowager Cixi.” Ms. Chang, who lives in exile, argues the empress brought medieval China into the modern age, calling her an “amazing stateswoman.”

But Ms. Chang’s damn-the-man portrait of Cixi is a tad too generous even for some sympathizers. How could the empress dowager have ushered in groundbreaking innovation when much of her career was devoted to her drive to preserve the imperial family that crumbled three years after her death?

And Cixi did undermine a bold reform program begun by her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu, who favored a constitutional monarchy, not an absolute one. She then supported the Boxer rebellion, an anti-foreign, anti-Christian uprising that cost China dearly, a move she later blamed on her bossy male advisers.

A Chinese scholar, Zhang Hongjie, recently took up the cause of the empress in a sympathetic essay, “Woman Cixi,” featured in an anthology about Chinese women and men who have struggled against the odds.

He argued that she was held back by her lack of education, a given at the time because she was a woman, and that she should be given credit for trying to make amends for her mistakes at the end of her rule. But Mr. Zhang said his positive portrait made little impact.

“Cixi is still a negative character,” he said.

Her endeavors to preserve the imperial family above all else make for comparisons with Michael Corleone, the fictional Mafia boss.

“She had one of the most ruthless, savvy political minds, she was like a gangster,” said Jeremiah Jenne, a historian who leads visitors on walking tours around the Summer Palace, where he points out 500-year-old juniper and cypress trees, and paint-faded pavilions like the Hall for Dispelling Clouds, which was renovated in 1895 for her 60th birthday extravaganza.

Cixi had the Summer Palace rebuilt after an invading European army looted and burned the original, which, with its jewel-encrusted furniture and over-the-top silks, was said to be on par with Versailles.

Her reconstruction was not quite as opulent, but it was a sumptuous personal pleasure ground, intended to signify the strength of the family and its immense retinue of courtiers.

Despite the scholarly ruminations about Cixi, many Chinese tourists seem more interested in her extravagant lifestyle and come to see what is left of the loot, much faded because of neglect by the Communist Party’s cultural administrators.

A favorite is the “marble boat,” officially known as the Boat of Purity and Ease, a two-story wooden pavilion with wide verandas built into the side of the lakeshore and painted to resemble pale marble.

The official school curriculum says Cixi stole funds from the imperial Navy to renovate the boat just two years before the outbreak of war with the Japanese. Because of her thievery, the textbooks say, China lost the naval battles against Japan in 1894.

Crowds, shoulder-to-shoulder on a recent spring day, pressed against the lakeside rail, taking selfies framed by the newly green willow trees that dipped into the water.

“She had an expensive lifestyle, and China had one disaster after another,” said a middle-aged primary schoolteacher, who identified herself as Ms. Ye. She said she had no sympathy for Cixi.

“When you are backward as China was then, people will take advantage of you,” she said.

In the gift shops, there are no images of Cixi, just a few pieces of pink silk emblazoned with her calligraphy, sold as wall hangings. Commemorative coins with the portrait of Mao Zedong, cheap bangles, tea sets and hand fans do a brisker trade.

“No one likes her,” one of the young saleswomen said. “In history she is bad. Who would buy souvenirs of Cixi?”

Young Chinese tourists showed more sympathy.

“As a woman, she couldn’t make decisions in politics like the men,” said Xiao Yangchuan, 18, a first-year university student. “I think we should see her as a real person. She has her own flaws, and we should understand her era,” she said.

In the last decade of her life, the empress dowager tried to polish her image by making herself more accessible, especially to Western diplomats. But in the end, she could barely overcome the impression that, like many royals in the West, she was most interested in her dogs, gardening and fancy clothing, wrote Sterling Seagrave in his empathetic biography, “Dragon Lady.”

Pictures of her are banished to a pavilion near the exit of the palace grounds, where a large sepia photo shows her, surrounded by ladies in waiting, dressed in an embroidered gown with pearls said to be the size of canary eggs, and long talon-like finger nails.

The day before she died, the young emperor, Guangxu, was found dead — of natural causes, imperial records show. In 2008, Chinese medical investigators found extraordinarily high levels of arsenic in his remains, leading to a popular conclusion that the Empress had killed him to try to stop him from introducing political reforms after her own death.

Did she do it? “I am going with Cixi,” said Mr. Jenne, the historian.

In her final years, she was known as the “old Buddha,” a term that friendly biographers say was a term of endearment. Others see it as an appropriately scornful term for a woman who was barely literate, left little for other women to emulate and led the bankrupt Qing dynasty to its downfall in a country whose government remains as male-dominated as ever.

Follow Jane Perlez on Twitter: @JanePerlez.

Elsie Chen and Karoline Kan contributed research in Beijing.

The post Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer? appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2NEXUDG via News of World

[party-hard-or-die]

Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer?

BEIJING — She entered the world of an ancient empire as a teenage concubine, chosen by the emperor to share his bed for her good looks, immaculate comportment and, above all, her ability to sing.

The male-dominated court was a swirl of intrigue, forced suicides and poisonings. Eunuchs assigned to the emperor prepared her for sex with the ruler, undressing her and carrying her to his bed. After the Emperor Xianfeng’s death, she governed in the name of young male heirs — from behind a screen.

Perhaps as an escape from these oppressive restrictions, Empress Dowager Cixi (pronounced TSIH-shee), the de facto ruler of China in the final decades of the imperial dynasty, rebuilt a fantastic wonderland, the Summer Palace. It’s an extended estate of glittery lakes, luxurious gardens and elaborate wooden pavilions on the edge of the nation’s capital, attracting up to 100,000 visitors a day.

Most of them are curious Chinese from across the country who read in their Communist Party-authorized school books that Cixi was a harridan who stole the nation’s wealth and was responsible for China’s humiliating defeat by the Japanese in 1895.

But was she? Cixi, a peer of Queen Victoria’s and apparently iron-willed, has invited revisionist interpretations that view her as a feminist, at least in the context of the late 19th century, when women in China were treated little better than spittoons.

Strong women in China are often portrayed as power-hungry, and sometimes irrational, and are notably absent from the highest ranks of government. There is no Hillary Clinton figure in contemporary China (the real Mrs. Clinton is vilified by the government for talking about human rights in the country), or an Angela Merkel, who has stood up to China on trade.

When Bo Xilai, a rival to the current ruler Xi Jinping, was put on trial for corruption, he described his wife as “insane” in an effort to lessen his sentence.

So harking back to the pre-communist era for a feminist trailblazer makes sense. And to search for feminist ideals in a woman who ruled for nearly 50 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908, is understandable.

But the case of Cixi — who was isolated, undereducated and never made a break for personal freedom — is a hard argument to make.

A Chinese historian, Jung Chang, began the re-evaluation of Cixi with her biography, “Empress Dowager Cixi.” Ms. Chang, who lives in exile, argues the empress brought medieval China into the modern age, calling her an “amazing stateswoman.”

But Ms. Chang’s damn-the-man portrait of Cixi is a tad too generous even for some sympathizers. How could the empress dowager have ushered in groundbreaking innovation when much of her career was devoted to her drive to preserve the imperial family that crumbled three years after her death?

And Cixi did undermine a bold reform program begun by her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu, who favored a constitutional monarchy, not an absolute one. She then supported the Boxer rebellion, an anti-foreign, anti-Christian uprising that cost China dearly, a move she later blamed on her bossy male advisers.

A Chinese scholar, Zhang Hongjie, recently took up the cause of the empress in a sympathetic essay, “Woman Cixi,” featured in an anthology about Chinese women and men who have struggled against the odds.

He argued that she was held back by her lack of education, a given at the time because she was a woman, and that she should be given credit for trying to make amends for her mistakes at the end of her rule. But Mr. Zhang said his positive portrait made little impact.

“Cixi is still a negative character,” he said.

Her endeavors to preserve the imperial family above all else make for comparisons with Michael Corleone, the fictional Mafia boss.

“She had one of the most ruthless, savvy political minds, she was like a gangster,” said Jeremiah Jenne, a historian who leads visitors on walking tours around the Summer Palace, where he points out 500-year-old juniper and cypress trees, and paint-faded pavilions like the Hall for Dispelling Clouds, which was renovated in 1895 for her 60th birthday extravaganza.

Cixi had the Summer Palace rebuilt after an invading European army looted and burned the original, which, with its jewel-encrusted furniture and over-the-top silks, was said to be on par with Versailles.

Her reconstruction was not quite as opulent, but it was a sumptuous personal pleasure ground, intended to signify the strength of the family and its immense retinue of courtiers.

Despite the scholarly ruminations about Cixi, many Chinese tourists seem more interested in her extravagant lifestyle and come to see what is left of the loot, much faded because of neglect by the Communist Party’s cultural administrators.

A favorite is the “marble boat,” officially known as the Boat of Purity and Ease, a two-story wooden pavilion with wide verandas built into the side of the lakeshore and painted to resemble pale marble.

The official school curriculum says Cixi stole funds from the imperial Navy to renovate the boat just two years before the outbreak of war with the Japanese. Because of her thievery, the textbooks say, China lost the naval battles against Japan in 1894.

Crowds, shoulder-to-shoulder on a recent spring day, pressed against the lakeside rail, taking selfies framed by the newly green willow trees that dipped into the water.

“She had an expensive lifestyle, and China had one disaster after another,” said a middle-aged primary schoolteacher, who identified herself as Ms. Ye. She said she had no sympathy for Cixi.

“When you are backward as China was then, people will take advantage of you,” she said.

In the gift shops, there are no images of Cixi, just a few pieces of pink silk emblazoned with her calligraphy, sold as wall hangings. Commemorative coins with the portrait of Mao Zedong, cheap bangles, tea sets and hand fans do a brisker trade.

“No one likes her,” one of the young saleswomen said. “In history she is bad. Who would buy souvenirs of Cixi?”

Young Chinese tourists showed more sympathy.

“As a woman, she couldn’t make decisions in politics like the men,” said Xiao Yangchuan, 18, a first-year university student. “I think we should see her as a real person. She has her own flaws, and we should understand her era,” she said.

In the last decade of her life, the empress dowager tried to polish her image by making herself more accessible, especially to Western diplomats. But in the end, she could barely overcome the impression that, like many royals in the West, she was most interested in her dogs, gardening and fancy clothing, wrote Sterling Seagrave in his empathetic biography, “Dragon Lady.”

Pictures of her are banished to a pavilion near the exit of the palace grounds, where a large sepia photo shows her, surrounded by ladies in waiting, dressed in an embroidered gown with pearls said to be the size of canary eggs, and long talon-like finger nails.

The day before she died, the young emperor, Guangxu, was found dead — of natural causes, imperial records show. In 2008, Chinese medical investigators found extraordinarily high levels of arsenic in his remains, leading to a popular conclusion that the Empress had killed him to try to stop him from introducing political reforms after her own death.

Did she do it? “I am going with Cixi,” said Mr. Jenne, the historian.

In her final years, she was known as the “old Buddha,” a term that friendly biographers say was a term of endearment. Others see it as an appropriately scornful term for a woman who was barely literate, left little for other women to emulate and led the bankrupt Qing dynasty to its downfall in a country whose government remains as male-dominated as ever.

Follow Jane Perlez on Twitter: @JanePerlez.

Elsie Chen and Karoline Kan contributed research in Beijing.

The post Was This Powerful Chinese Empress a Feminist Trailblazer? appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2NEXUDG via Breaking News

[mysteryshelf]

MERRY MYSTERY WEEK: BLOG TOUR - One Red Bastard

  Welcome to

THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF Merry Mystery Week Special!

DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Partners in Crime Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.

One Red Bastard

by Ed Lin

on Tour November 20 – December 31, 2017

Synopsis:

It’s the fall of 1976, and New York’s Chinatown is in turmoil over news that Mao’s daughter is seeking asylum in the U.S. Robert Chow is a detective in training, and he is thrilled when his girlfriend Lonnie scores an interview with the Chinese representative of Mao’s daughter. But hours after the interview, the man is found dead. Lonnie, the last person to see him alive, is the main suspect.

As Lonnie is subjected to increasing amounts of intimidation from his fellow policemen, who want to close the case, Robert is tempted to reach into his own bag of dirty tricks. Will he stay on the right side of the law, or will his loyalty to Lonnie get the better of him? Find out in this exciting and fast-paced mystery set in one of New York’s most fascinating neighborhoods.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery Published by: Witness Impulse Publication Date: November 21st 2017 Number of Pages: ISBN: 0062444204 (ISBN13: 9780062444202) Series: Detective Robert Chow #3 Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

Read an excerpt:

The woman was standing in a pool of wet ashes, her hands at her sides. She was about five seven but that was with heels on. Her thick black hair cascaded over her ears and shoulders, and she did something to it to make it shiny. A light brown coat stopped above a skirt that stopped midway down two taut thighs in stockings with a dull glow.

I smirked because I was sure that she had spent some time thinking about how she wanted to look from the rear. To men.

But this was no time for amusement. I came in close to her forehead and growled under my breath, “Barbara, what the hell are you doing here!”

When she turned around I saw my head and torso in her two black, sparkling eyes. Her face was long and not too narrow and came down to a chin that fairy princesses had. Her red lips, usually curved like a little blossom, were pulled taut into a wide smile.

She grabbed my arm and said, “Robert!”

“This is a crime scene! Now let’s get out of this thing!”

“I’m so sorry!”

She continued to hold on to me as we stepped over the tape together, matching leg for leg. I had lost part of my mind in Nam, but she had lost a lot more. Barbara used to be the prettiest girl in Chinatown. Now she was its prettiest widow.

“You know anything about the fire, Barbara?” I looked into her face. There was lightning behind her dark eyes.

“No. I don’t. Can we stop whispering now?”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter at this point,” I said in full voice.

“Look, I didn’t mean any harm. I just had to see the place up close. Artie Yee published my first story, back when I was in grade school.”

“I didn’t know about that.”

“I brought it into school to show everybody. Don’t you remember?”

“How am I supposed to remember that one thing? You always had something to show off in school. If it wasn’t a story you wrote, it’d be a story about you.”

She snorted.

“Did you stay in touch with Artie over the years?” I asked.

“I’d run into him from time to time.”

“Were the two of you friends?”

“Oh, no, no. I learned to keep my distance from that one. Did you know that he asked me to marry him when I turned eighteen?”

“He wasn’t much better looking back then, was he?”

“He looked like a younger walrus.”

“You’re not enemies with Artie, though, are you?”

“I’m not one of them, but he has many enemies,” she said. “You know that.”

“He did his part in pissing off all areas of Chinatown.”

“Artie doesn’t respect authority. That’s a good thing for a journalist.”

“Then how come you didn’t keep writing for him?”

“Artie doesn’t respect women.” She shivered and then slapped my arm. “I heard Paul got into that program at Columbia.”

“Thanks to you,” I said.

“Thanks in part to me, anyway.” She paused. “Doesn’t that mean you’ll take me to dinner?”

“Maybe Paul should.”

“Get serious. Actually, maybe Paul should come and meet my youngest sister. You know she’s up at Columbia because she got into Barnard early. Maybe she should stick to Chinatown boys, like I should have.”

“Hey, Barbara, let’s talk about this later. I have to get back to work here.”

“You’re going to call me?”

“I’ll get in touch.”

She walked off and I returned to my post.

Years ago, Barbara and her three younger sisters were the four little princesses of Chinatown. She liked to say that her parents never did get that son, but the truth was her parents learned to love all their daughters to death. They all had beauty and smarts, and because of that you knew they’d get out of Chinatown and never come back.

But Barbara did return after her husband was killed in Khe Sanh. The oldest, the prettiest, and the smartest of the sisters, she moved back alone into their old family home to find some comfort, I guess.

There was a brief period when I thought she was the love of my life, but it was a while ago and it ended embarrassingly enough. Thinking about it again put me in a bad mood.

“Hello Sunshine,” said Vandyne.

“It was Barbara,” I said.

“Oh! What the hell was she doing there?”

“She wanted to see the place up close. Artie published one of her stories back when she was a smart, little girl.”

“Seriously, though, could she have had anything at all to do with this?”

“Her? No way, man!”

“Do you know that for sure?”

“Yes,” I said. “I would bet my soul on it.”

***

Excerpt from One Red Bastard by Ed Lin. Copyright © 2017 by Ed Lin. Reproduced with permission from Witness Impulse. All rights reserved.

  Ed Lin:

Ed Lin, a native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards and is an all-around standup kinda guy. His books include Waylaid and This Is a Bust, both published by Kaya Press in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Snakes Can’t Run and One Red Bastard, which both continue the story of Robert Chow set in This Is a Bust, were published by Minotaur Books. His latest book, Ghost Month, a Taipei-based mystery, was published by Soho Crime in July 2014. Lin lives in Brooklyn with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung, and son.

Catch Up With Our Author On: Website 🔗, Goodreads 🔗, Twitter 🔗, & Facebook 🔗!

  Tour Participants:

  Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Ed Lin and Witness Impulse. There will be 5 winners of one (1) small incense box with a Chinese opera mask. The giveaway begins on November 20th and runs through December 30, 2017.

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MERRY MYSTERY WEEK: BLOG TOUR – One Red Bastard was originally published on the Wordpress version of The Pulp and Mystery Shelf with Shannon Muir

[inaneinthenextplane]

#NotMyAss: A Case For Why The Democratic Party Should Change Its Symbol From The Andrew Jackson Donkey To, Anything More Progressive

“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.” - Andrew Jackson

People aren't perfect, in the modern day this can be noted about many (if not any) of us & our capacity as people toward imperfection permeates all from the lowest in the social pecking order to the highest. It is often said that when judging people in the past, especially of leaders both religious and political, that one should not apply the ethical standards of modernity when designating who does & doesn't deserve our collective admiration or respect as people. Certainly, the United States is not a stranger to the controversy plaguing its record & history. However most will tell you that while the founding fathers for instance may have been slave owners, they for their time had altered their society for the better. That through their violence against the system of monarchism, they're said to have bravely redefined societies' relationship with the government, incorporating some of the progressive elements of the age of enlightenment at that time to form a constitutional republic that would spring revolutionary fervor as far as France & even as close as Haiti against the French First Republic itself. However you may feel about the founding fathers, their religious & civic beliefs, their involvement in slavery, their war crimes against the Native population, etc, there is no doubt that they left behind a tumultuous legacy that cannot be said to have given modern society no gifts that the people of today continue to indulge in. Our constitution, though it is unfortunately often ignored or otherwise subverted by the government today, has given people rights and autonomy over their own lives that other nations only wish they could possess. Legacy is an important thing to consider when evaluating the worth of men of history, it's how we determine the weight of the gifts they've given to the world vs. their atrocities, how we determine who we'll honor from our past or condemn to the realm of the reviled.

Andrew Jackson was a war criminal Indian killer, a rogue president, and an enemy of the abolition of slavery. Apart from the founding fathers, he was a president & leader of the country with a fundamentally different kind of legacy. Some may even say his was an accomplished one, and indeed, it doesn't strike even me as wholly blemished or uproarious. However, any idiot could argue a silver lining within the track records of even the most loathsome of tyrants. "Mussolini may have instituted fascism, but, at least he had the trains running on time". "Mao Zedong may have been the catalyst for the murder of 45 million, but hey, he was good for women" (I'm not shitting you, this is a narrative pressed in the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/women-china-communist-revolution.html). But, it isn't unreasonable to suggest his contribution to the country had its bright sides. In the interest of being measured I'll list some of said accomplishments here:

He was an accomplished general who throughout his military career diligently fulfilled his functions in the battles he fought, delivering crushing defeats to enemy armies, most notably the battle of New Orleans. This was one of the most one sided battles of the War Of 1812 and lead to the death of 2,037 British soldiers, compared to 71 Americans.

He expanded voting rights to all... white males. Which, I mean, as a white guy I have to take as something of a plus. I certainly shouldn't have to own land or pay a poll tax to vote. No siree bob, fuck you, up yours, get laid, eat shit, drop dead, jack me off, suck this, I'm not interested in your rigid voting standards. Perhaps, this could be said to have set the groundwork for future generations of increased suffrage for other interest groups.

He solved a succession crisis presented by South Carolina caused by Southern farmers' not wanting to pay high tarrifs issued to benefit Northern industrialists by authorizing the use of force in implementing the tariff but also passing a compromise bill that adjusted the rates enough to lower tensions among the growingly embittered population of the state. He fought the banks, and managed to be the only president to balance the federal budget & leave the country with zero national debt by the time he left office.

I list these in part because already I could picture the internal dialogue of people whom may be fans of Andrew Jackson, or who believe that historical outrage is an indulgence characteristic of SJW's & other victims of guilt over a contrived notion of white privilege who resent their own existence. I don't consider myself aligned with such outrage culture, however, the character of the country matters & our relationship with the past should reflect the lessons we've learned from it.

A brief history of the symbols of the two major parties: In 1828 Andrew Jackson's populist rhetoric earned him the designation of 'stubborn Jackass' among critics. However, this insult was adopted proudly by Jackson who then printed images associating his campaign with a strong willed & determined donkey. Conceptually its the campaign equivalent of taking back the “Ehn-Word”. Less interesting is the story of the Republican elephant, where basically a magazine named Harpers Weekly published a political cartoon of a bunch of animals fleeing from a braying mule but like, the elephant was brave and didn't flee. Woo-oo.

Here I would like to enumerate why I believe, as a leftist, that it is in the Democratic parties' best interest to shirk the donkey that now symbolizes the only party that fosters progressive thought, from Bernie Sanders to Elisabeth Warren to the majority of the liberal base of the US who vote.

We talk now a lot about the imperative nature of Supreme Court justices. Democrats begging the left to vote would use the Supreme Court as one of their alarmist rationales for voting not so much for Hillary Clinton, but rather against Trump. There's a current panic among the left as far as abortion goes, as the right has been seeking the death of Roe vs. Wade ever since its passage in the year of 1973. Well, lets talk about the Supreme Court & president Jackson. Jackson was a slave owner, which isn't at all unique to the history of presidents of that age, but let's compare him to Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson (the third president), a noted slave owner, claimed he partook in the industry for economic purposes & actively resented the industry. Jefferson referred in public to the institution as a 'hideous blot' & even went as far as to ban the import of slaves into Virginia. His proposed amendment to ban slavery in all northern and southern states after 1800 would have succeeded, were it not rejected by one mere vote. Jefferson had a complicated relationship with slavery, & even as he owned slaves, he seemed not to be its legislative ally while in government.

The case of Dred Scott vs. Sandford is perhaps the most notorious decision made by the US Supreme Court. I remember learning it in history class as the worst ruling ever produced by the court in AP US Government class during high school. The ruling basically set back the abolitionist cause by many years and helped to solidify the inevitability of the entire Civil War. Basically, Dred Scott was an enslaved man who sued for his freedom after his master John Emerson had died, leaving his wife to handle his estate and therefore Dred Scott as a slave. He was not only denied his freedom but his ability to sue was rejected on the grounds that he, as a slave of "the negro African race", was property on level with a shovel or other type of tool. This decision stands as one of the worst decisions ever made in the history of the judicial branch of government, & it was facilitated by the appointments of Andrew Jackson, a vehement opponent of the then nascent movement towards abolition. By that point, four of the judges influencing this decision were appointed by Jackson, only one of which voted as a dissenting opinion. While John McLean of Ohio voted against, John Caltron, Roger Brooke Taney, and James Moore Wayne all voted in favor of the ruling. Compare this to what Jefferson, a president three terms down from him was attempting, with much less cultural traction at the time. Does the Democratic party at this time want to be represented by a symbol describing the man who committed the exact administrative evil they fear so much in this age, when Donald Trump threatens to do the same?

The Supreme Court today is one of the most sought after checks against the Executive Branch, especially today as Donald Trump attempts to institute so called 'Muslim bans' by cutting off immigration to majority Muslim nations. The courts, up until very recently, had put the kibosh on his ban, ruling it unconstitutional. Now the ruling has been temporarily uplifted, but the issue remains undecided & under review in the courts.

Imagine a world where Donald Trump ignored the ruling of the court, going as far as to throw Muslims out of the country at the barrel of a gun & barring refugees from wartorn nations in turmoil from entry everywhere from the mainland to even the territorial United States?

Well,

it just so happens that there is precedent for a president committing such an affront to the checks and balances of the United States. Oddly enough, only a few administrations into the country itself with its relatively new constitution no less.

The Trail Of Tears, earned Andrew Jackson the name of 'Sharp Knife' from the Cherokee nation, it was a forced death march designed to evict multiple native American tribes from the eastern territories of the United States out west to what is now Oklahoma. Rich American farmers were for a while during & prior to Jackson's' administration coveting the lands of the Indian nations of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee. Under the auspices of their 'savagery', the practice of forced removal of Indians from their land had been no big deal traditionally for state and federal governments of the United States. These five tribes however underwent the process of 'civilizing' themselves, & had organized private ownership, adoption of Christianity, learned to speak and read English, even circulating their own newspaper at that time in an attempt to distinguish themselves as perfectly willing to assimilate in the interest of becoming culturally neighborly as a people. They had even in many cases sued for their right to their lands not to be infringed. In cases such as 'Cherokee Nation v. Georgia' (1831) and 'Worcester v. Georgia' (1832), the Supreme Court itself even demanded that the state government of Georgia and Jackson's' administration cease the persecution of these tribes, affirming their sovereignty as nations.

But this motherfucker, this truly savage man, this rogue & treacherous president would go on to completely dispense with the opinion of the very court designed to provide a check on his office. Jackson said these fateful words in response to being contradicted by the court:

“John Marshall has made his decision;

now let him enforce it.”

A statement of utter irony, when one considers that is is the very nature of the Executive branch to enforce the laws, as interpreted by the courts, & crafted by the Legislative branch. Without any food, medicine, or clothing/blankets given from the government, the Chocktaw Indians would be first to journey at the point of a bayonet and sometimes even in chains down a miserably long road to Oklahoma. Of fifteen thousand Creek Indians that next would be moved, three and a half thousand would not make it. More than 5,000 Cherokees would die on their road to a forced new land. The Seminole Indians who would not leave even went as far as guerrilla warfare tactics, putting an ardent fight but ultimately failing to succeed in the preservation of their rightful lands. For the ones who capitulated to the governments demands & moved, diseases such as whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, & cholera among others would mar the entire genetic makeup of their people & starvation would plague them & only them as soldiers would accompany their miserable trek to a new life in a new land.

These people were not allowed to win. They were not allowed to live peacefully and many weren't even allowed to live because the United States was headed by a genocidal maniac, an opportunistic slave monger & white supremacist who had a history of practicing ethnic extermination throughout his military career; even going as far as to recommend the killing of Native American women and children to those under to him. In fact, during the first Seminole War prior to his presidency the military came upon two British men Alexander George Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister living amongst the Seminole people. One of the men had written a journal expressing dissenting opinion against the persecution of the Seminole & their forced removal, which Jackson would use as the evidence necessary to try and execute them in a “special court martial” for conspiring to incite the tribe to fight back against his advance on them. A perfectly reasonable reaction for them to have come up with of their own volition! Only no, they were enticed to by these dangerous trouble making Brits.

What a contradiction of American values of freedom of speech, of due process, of the will of the Supreme Court!

Imagine being a Jew in modern day Germany, living in a democracy where one of the major supposedly leftist/liberal parties was symbolically depicted by a Nazi flag with no other options in sight to vote for representing your interests. Imagine being Jewish in a Germany where boys and girls pay for ice cream with dollar bills depicting the portrait of Adolf Hitler. Or where the grave to this day of Hitler is still honored to this day.

You might say this is a reach, but think of what was at stake for both groups of people. Think of the method of execution & even movement of these people who were both subject to genocide at the hands of a significantly more powerful 'other'. As the Soviet Union proceeded into Nazi territory from the eastern front, the occupants of concentration camps were evacuated and forced to move-via death march- where many would die of disease or being shot by SS soldiers when they could not go one, in the harshness of winter no less.

The property and territories of Native American tribes were sacked and their supplies stripped from them prior to being forcibly moved to the federal governments designated reservation, their movements took place under very similar circumstances & the general disregard for their humanity also strikes me as similar in their malevolence. There was simply no army to save “The Five Civilized Tribes” whose fate at the hands of their enemies would be most uncivil. 'Stubborn jackass' is perhaps the least venomous of insults you might lob at Jackson, & perhaps this is why he so willingly painted himself as such in the political landscape of his nation.

We shouldn't even honor the grave of this former president, his ironic place on the fiat currency of our American 20$ bill could not have found a more beautiful 'Fuck You' than in being replaced by abolitionist radical Harriet Tubman (though perhaps in her case 'cathartic' might be a better word) even if it is only on one side of the bill.

What is the utility of the donkey as the symbol of the Democratic party? When most people are obtuse to the history of it in the first place, why should the Democrats be content to leave anybody with the intellectual curiosity to research their primary logo the chance of being disgusted by their own national history? It strikes me as very ironic, when it should be iconic. It is a symbolic affront to one of their more coveted voter bases, because lets face it, Native American voters aren't exactly gung-ho to vote for the Republican party who specifically sell out to the very people who stand to profit from our modern affront to tribal rights, the tar sands Dakota Access oil pipeline. If Democrats are to be sincere in standing with the water protectors of Standing Rock, I think a great gesture in the right direction could consist of adopting a wholly new symbol, designed to do in effect what Obama proposed in response to calls to investigate the criminals in the Bush administration who committed torture & warrant-less wiretapping: to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards.

Below are my sources I used for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K27oIJlAlA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005162#

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-parties-got-their-animal-symbols/

https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/people/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-on-list-of-worst-us-presidents/

http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears

https://www.biography.com/people/andrew-jackson-9350991

http://www.subzin.com/quotes/M18643d18b/George+Carlin%3A+Complaints+%26+Grievances/Bullshit%2C+fuck+you%2C+up+yours%2C+get+laid.